Warriors From An Unknown Land
by Man of Wrath
Summary: After surviving the clash with Cell, Gohan finds himself among the world of shinobi. Accompanied by Trunks, what impact will these two half-saiyans have on this new world? (Reboot of Hybrids of the Hidden Leaf) (In collaboration with SparkinClark)
1. A Long Way from Home

A/N: Hey everyone, I know what you're thinkin', "Archangel, you already did a story like this, why are you starting another one?" Well, it's no secret that I discontinued 'Hybrids of the Hidden Leaf', and I noticed quite a few people were not pleased that I did that. To be honest, the reason I discontinued that fic... was because I thought it sucked ^_^. That was the very first fic I ever wrote for this site, and I was a freshman in Highschool when I did. So, when I go back and read the first half of that fic, it really shows how amateur of a writer I was, and I noticed how cringy some of the dialogue and scenes were.

THIS fic, on the other hand, will keep some of the core elements of HotHL, (i.e Teen Gohan and Future Trunks centered, mature themes, mature scenes, lemons, strong language, etc (This story **wont** have underage sex!), while being (I think) different enough to justify the reboot. I DID allow another writer to take over the original HotHL, since it's dead to me, and he put his own spin on the story. But If you care to, check out 'The Kami of Kami's' remaster.

Now, let's get this party started!

XXX

 _Thousands of people devoured._

 _Dozens of cities destroyed._

 _The murder of a half-saiyan whose sole mission was to return peace to his timeline._

 _And the murder of one of, if not the Earth's greatest hero, who sacrificed himself in vain to end the madness caused by a single monster._

 _Cell._

 _The Bio-Androids list of crimes were a mile long, and would only keep getting longer unless he was stopped right here, right now, by a lone teenager, Son Gohan._

 _The son of Goku was never a fighter like his father. The boy was a gentle spirit who would have prefered to spare any living being, no matter how evil. He tried his best to plead with the Android, but his words were thrown right back his face. Hard._

 _After the monster tortured the young boys friends, and murdered another, peaceful android, Gohan unleashed a power upon Cell that had been dormant within' him since he could form words in his mouth._

 _Now, through the power of Gohan's Kamehameha wave, Cell would learn why it was a good idea to fear the wrath of a patient man._

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Gohan screamed as he poured energy into his kamehameha, barely pushing back the Androids equally powerful blast. The teen's bloodied and broken left arm cut off half of the energy he'd need for this struggle.

The Android chuckled devilishly as he pushed a fair amount of energy into his own kamehameha, keeping the clash of beams at a stalemate. He knew that he could win this battle over the boy instantly. But why spoil the fun and end it quickly? The monster wanted to savor the feeling of hopelessness the boy would feel when the power of his Super Saiyan 2 form ran out, and his own father's signature move swallow him up.

Gohan's teeth grit and his fingers stung to high heaven. This hurt like hell, but he knew that if he failed here, the universe and every living thing in it would be at this monsters mercy.

' _Gohan_!'

The demi-saiyans eyes widened, "F...Father?!" He could hear Goku's voice just as clearly as if the man was standing right next to him.

' _You can do this son! Think of all of the lives he's destroyed, the people he's hurt! Make that your power!'_

From hundreds of yards up in the air, the rest of the Z-Fighters stared down the epic struggle going on below them.

'Gohan.' Piccolo thought, 'I won't let you die all alone out there.' He charged twin ki blasts into his hands; Tien, Krillin, and Yamcha mirroring the Namekians action.

The teen's feet dug into the dirt as he was pushed back, despite his best efforts. 'N-No…I...I'm not strong enough.'

' _Yes you are_!' Goku barked into his ear, ' _You're stronger than Cell, stronger than anything in the universe right now! You just need to learn how to fight back!'_

Gohan could see several beams of ki strike Cell, having been fired from the remaining Z-Fighters. The beams did about as much damage as a water gun to a human being.

"Why won't you fools just stay down!" Cell roared in annoyance as he flared his aura, sending a shockwave to knock the Z-Fighters out of the sky.

The sight of seeing his friends hurt once more filled the boy with rage, "HYAAAAAAAAAAA!" The wave of blue pushed towards Cell.

Tien slowly stumbled to his feet, followed by Piccolo, Krillin, and Yamcha. "That's it you guys," The triclops said, "I'm completely out."

"Same." Yamcha grunted.

"I'm sorry Goku, we tried." Krillin said, voice filled with sorrow.

The namekian gazed at the struggle speechlessly, feeling the ground rumble beneath his feet. He saw his student give it his all, pushing back the Androids attack, but it was short lived before Cell pushed back, once more evening out the playing field, 'This...this can't be how our story ends.' When Cell overtook Gohan, he'd be taking the Earth as well in the detonation.

Evil laughter reverberated through the battlefield. Through Cell's smug boasting, he was unable to see the blue ball of energy that shot into him from above, distracting him.

All eyes went up to the prince of saiyans, who, having summoned up every last drop of energy he could muster up, pulled off one final attack.

"VEGETA?!" Cell shouted in surprise.

'NOW!' Goku yelled.

With one final scream, the demi-saiyan forced everything he had and more into his attack, completely overcoming Cell's Kamehameha.

The Android could feel his body disintegrating from the boys assault, although, despite the fact that he was dying, he never let up his attack. The flux of the monsters ki against Gohan's resulted in a dome of energy that engulfed the two fighters.

The Z-Fighters and Vegeta reacted on instinct, quickly flying away from the dome of energy that'd grown to the size of any football stadium. Yamcha made sure to grab Trunks's corpse, knowing it'd be best to have if he were to be wished back at full strength. What remained of the Cell Games arena, on the other hand, was completely wiped out.

Pained screams tore from Cell's throat, his body painfully tearing apart and disintegrating, cell...by cell. "I AAAAMM PEEERRRRFFFFEEEEEEEECCCCTTTT!"

And he was gone.

Gohan could feel the sting of his ki searing every inch of his body, but he didn't scream. Strangely, he smiled.

Cell was dead. The Earth was saved. His friends would survive. If he died, so be it. He was happy. He knew how his father felt.

The teens vision went from pure white, to pitch black as his eyes closed.

Several miles away, the Z-fighters stopped mid-flight to watch the display of energy.

Piccolo stared in horror as what appeared to be lighting flared from the dome and into the atmosphere.

"That's...not normal." Krillin stuttered out.

The Namekian was the first to race back to what was once their battleground, with the rest of the Earth's special forces following after.

Piccolo could feel his heart drop as the closer he got, the energy began to fade and dissipate away. That should have been a good thing, but he could feel Gohan's energy fading away as well.

"No...no dammit!" He roared.

Piccolo's brow furrowed as he landed, the sphere of energy was gone. Where the Cell games was once held, was an empty crater that stretched on for hundreds of yards.

The ground was warm and steaming, with no sign of the demi-saiyan in neither sight, nor lifeforce.

Piccolo's nails dug into his flesh as he dropped to his knees, the other Z-Warriors touching down to the ground behind him.

"Gohan, no…" Tien whispered as the realization hit him and the rest of the fighters.

Although Vegeta was not one to show he cared, the fact that Kakarot's son was gone just like his father, hit the prince deeply. By giving their lives, they'd shown the prince up in ways he could never top. _They_ died proudly in the heat of battle, something he'd failed at. Outdone by a low-class warrior and that warriors half-breed son? How could he ever prove himself as a prince worthy of the title?

Piccolo roared as he punched the ground.

The land was quiet.

XXXX

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat within his office, pipe in mouth, back turned to the window that overlooked his village. Now, he was keeping track of the villages economy over the last 6 months, using a pen to chart a graph for it. The elderly man was content, almost 12 years having passed since the attack of the Nine Tails, and those twelve years had been filled with relative peace.

Although nothing was perfect, with the small conflicts that would occasionally arise between his village and others, there was nothing out of the ordinary.

Or so he thought.

A chill went down Sarutobi's spine, making his pen stop dead in its line. He stood up from his chair and approached his office window. Apparently, he wasn't the only person to get that strange sense of dread. He could see the citizens and soldiers of his village, shinobi, gazing out into the horizon, same as he was.

From at least 30 miles out from the village, a sphere of blue-white energy could be seen expanding from the woodlands, quickly growing to the size of a large coliseum. In its expanse, the ki destroyed and wiped away all plant life and unfortunate wildlife that was in contact. The clouds above separated from the dome of energy, almost as if the heavens themselves feared the enigmas presence.

Winds swept through the village with the force of a hurricane, forcing the civilians to run indoors or for cover. A lot of unfortunate street merchants lost their goods.

Sarutobi walked to the rooftop of his building, despite the wind, gazing out at the awe-inspiring spectacle before him. In a wink, the dome was gone. Faster than it appeared, it disappeared.

Wordlessly, he was approached by four jonin; Kakashi Hatake, Asuma Sarutobi, Kurenai Yuhi, and Maito Gai.

"Investigate." The Hokage ordered. With a staunch raising of his arm to his side, the four Elite Jonin fazed out, fluidly maneuvering through the streets and rooftops at speeds too fast for a normal human being to track.

Within a span of five minutes, the four Jonin were within range of the blast site, the air becoming uncomfortably hot and stuffy the closer they got. Uprooted trees and cleared forest floor brought them to ground level. The ground was hot, very hot. They could feel it through their shoes.

What the four saw within' the center of the crater was… something with a crown of blonde spikes for hair.

"Is that...a boy?" Asuma asked.

The four Jonin walked closer, Kakashi and Kurenai pulling a kunai and keeping it at the ready. If this boy belonged to an enemy village, they would have to neutralize him as such.

As they approached him, the Jonin flinched at the teens condition. He stood, right arm extended out in front of him, and the left bloodied and visibly broken. His clothes were a mess; pants tattered, shirt practically nothing but purple strings of cloth that hung over his exposed torso. The number of cuts and bruises present on the boys body were uncountable, with a particularly nasty wound on the center of his forehead, allowing blood to ooze down his face. The kid was panting like he'd just ran around the world and back.

"Hey!" Kurenai called to him, a failed attempt at getting his attention. The golden haired teen's eyes stayed trained out in front of him, as if he were completely lost in his own mind.

"What village are you from?!" Gai asked. He received no answer.

Kakashi grew impatient, "Answer us!"

His reply was in the boys arm falling to his side, and his hair falling from its vibrant gold, to a jet black. It was no longer the gravity defying spikes that crowned his dome, but now more of a wild moptop.

With a relieved smile and chuckle, the boy fell face first into the dirt.

Unconscious.

XXX

A/N: And that's the first chapter of, what I think, is a much needed reboot. YES, it was short, but I told what needed to tell. Like I said before, this will keep some of the major themes of the original, but I think I'll make some needed changes. I wanna know, do you guys want me to keep Gohan on Team Kurenai, or do you want me to stick him on Team Seven? Or, alternatively, I could toss him into a whole nother team.

If you guys aren't feeling a reboot, I'll drop the idea, but know, the original HotHL will not be completed by my hand. It belongs to 'The Kami of Kami'. Until next time. (If there is one. Like I said, if you aren't feeling a reboot by my hand, let me know.)


	2. The Chase

A/N: Got a lot of positive feedback from the first chapter, looks like this reboot's official! Now, before we continue, I wanna address two things.

1\. There won't be a "Harem" for Gohan, per-se. I don't believe that an 11-12 year old needs a harem, ESPECIALLY not someone like Gohan, and on top of that, Gohan will not be involved in any lemons, those will be reserved for Trunks's perspective of the story, and because I don't wanna write out a bunch of kids screwing, BUT, to compensate, there will be LIMES between Gohan and other girls.

If this bothers you, I respectfully ask you to leave.

2\. The saiyan's will be OP. As they were in the original. They won't be nerfed as much as they were in 'Mirai Shinobi', at least.

And now, we continue!

XXX

The emergency wing of the Konoha Hospital was in an uproar. Doctors and nurses scrambling in and out of the room occupied by the boy the Leaf's finest recovered that morning.

Looking through the room window from the hallway, Hiruzen watched the doctors operate on the unconscious child. They'd set a cast for his broken arm, and wrapped bandages around his forehead, leg, and anywhere else the bleeding was profuse.

His ribs were cracked, straining Gohan's ability to breath. To provide his lungs with a sufficient amount of oxygen, the doctors hooked him up to a ventilator.

The Hokage saw that the boy was grievously damaged, but he wasn't in life-threatening condition.

Ironically, that fact worried the old man.

The Hokage walked away from the ICU window, leaving the three Anbu he assigned to guard the new arrivals door. They'd be ready to turn the kid into a pincushion if he showed the slightest sign of aggression upon waking.

Walking into a waiting room around the corner, the Fire Shadow was anticipated by the four Jonin that'd recovered the boy.

"Hokage-Sama," Kurenai started, "will the boy be alright?" Kurenai had been the one to carry Gohan back to the village.

A slight nod of his head answered her question. Hiruzen's eyes traveled between the four Jonin, "You say he was caught in the center of the blast?" he asked.

"Dead center." Asuma confirmed for his father. "There's a strong possibility that _he_ may have been the one to cause it."

Sarutobi's eyes narrowed, "If the boy _was_ indeed the cause of that explosion, then he may possess more power than even our most elite of Jonin."

"That energy was potent enough to wipe out at least a quarter of the village," Kakashi cut in, "his power easily rivals that of a jinchuuriki."

"This makes him dangerous." Sarutobi stated obviously, "there is no telling what village he may be from. Until Inoichi returns, we are dealing with a wild card."

"Who knows," Gai started cheerfully, "if he's with one of our associates, he could prove to be a very powerful ally."

"Or an extremely dangerous enemy." Kurenai added grimly. "Despite his condition there's still no telling how quickly he could find the strength to attack us if he's a foe."

The Hokage took a second to think things over, "Did any of you come across any more abnormalities in your search?"

Kakashi spoke, "Buried in the dirt we found some sort of armor." The silver haired jonin jabbed his thumb towards a cloth covered apparatus lying in the corner of the room by a couch. Hiruzen approached the strange article of clothing to get a better look at it. He noticed that whatever it was, if someone wore it, it would would provide quite a bit of protection to their shoulders, thus giving it the appearance of armor. The cloth that covered it would flow down the persons back...like a cape.

"Not enough protection to be considered armor." The old man said.

"Whatever it is, it weighs a ton." Asuma said.

"Or a few." Gai added, "It took myself, Kakashi-kun, and Asuma-kun to lift it and bring it back to the village."

Even that put the old man on edge. If the boy did indeed wear that, then just how strong could he have been physically?

Kakashi noticed the unease the Hokage was displaying, "Lord Hokage, what do you-"

 ***CRASH!***

All eyes went to the halls as the sound of glass breaking, shouting, and physical activity erupted.

A Chunin dashed into the waiting room, "Lord Hokage, he got out!"

"What?!" The old man barked in disbelief, yet already knowing who "he" was. Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, and Gai were in just as much shock.

The five ran out into the hallway to see that all three of the Anbu that had been guarding Gohan's room had been neutralized with a with a swift beatdown. The glass window that allowed view into the room was shattered, one of the Anbu getting knocked through it and into the halls.

Gai helped up one of the Anbu who'd managed to stay conscious, "I'm so sorry Lord Hokage, the kid moved in a blur, I could barely track hi-." the bird masked Anbu said.

"Where is he?!" Hiruzen ordered.

The Anbu pointed down the hallway, where at that moment a doctor rushed around the corner pointing down his hall, "Out the front door!"

Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai pulled kunai,

"Friend or foe," Kakashi said, "I guess we just got our answer."

XXX

With no energy to fly, Gohan ran through the streets of Konoha. Or he tried to. The damage to his legs, ribs, arm, and his borderline _nonexistent_ amount of energy made running unimaginably onerous.

First the teen had to destroy a bio-android bent on world destruction, then he had to wake up in some place he had _no_ idea where, with none of his friends around, and deal with three creeps in animal masks pulling knives on him for no reason?

It was hard to believe all of this was happening to him within' a one day timespan.

The citizens that saw the demi-saiyan coming quickly avoided him, not wanting any part in the commotion that the boy was to bring with him.

Sensing danger, the son of Goku turned and looked up to see two figures running along the rooftops at breakneck speed.

"Shoot!" He grunted as the figures leaped down from the rooftops and over him. He noticed they were also wearing animal masks.

He immediately hit the ground and spun a kick into the first Anbu that neared him, the speed at which he spun being too fast for the older nin to track. The Anbu received the top of the boys foot into his chest and was knocked into a nearby restaurant.

Gohan got to his feet and begun running again just as the second Anbu touched the ground.

Feeling more tired than he knew possible, the demi-saiyan could tell the Anbu was quickly catching up to him.

Using his survival instincts, the saiyan ran to an upcoming food vendor cart, one that was wooden and about as large as a car. He looked at the owner who stood on the opposite side of the cart,

"Please forgive me for this." He begged with a bow. He grasped the underside of the wood with his fingertips, and threw the cart at the Anbu like it weighed nothing.

Barely jumping out of the way of the cart in its entirety, the Anbu was still hit by one of the large wooden wheels once the cart smashed into the ground and blew apart. The blow knocked him unconscious.

Gohan fist pumped with his one good arm, ignoring the cursing merchant, before sensing four more energy signals very close by and quickly coming his way.

Weaving his head to the side at the last possible second, the son of Goku dodged a kunai that'd been thrown at him. The blade stuck into a wall behind him.

Whoever threw the knife had great aim and a powerful throw, he noticed, because that knife moved as fast as a bullet, and had the demi-saiyan not had the reflexes he had, that knife would have hit him in his head.

Not that that would have killed him or anything, but still.

Now huffing and puffing, the son of Goku ran into a back alleyway. Knowing his luck would run out sooner or later, he found out just when.

It was now, because he'd hit a dead end in the form of a building wall. Too weak at the moment to simply punch a hole through the stone, he was trapped like a rat.

"Oh man." He dreaded. Senses on high alert, he grabbed a lid from a nearby trash can and held it like a shield in front of himself, the three 'chinks' of metal ringing in his ears from the kunai that stuck into the lid.

He lowered the lid to see four Jonin; Kakashi, Asuma, Gai, and Kurenai standing at the entrance of the alleyway.

"End of the line, kid." Kurenai said coldly as the four advanced towards the demi-saiyan.

Gohan gripped the trash can lid tightly enough to warp the metal. He didn't want to hurt these people, he honestly didn't. He'd even gone out of his way to non-fatally harm his other attackers, even though _they'd_ been the first one's to show hostility.

But, the pre-teen still had the strength to throw this lid, hard enough to take off one of their heads, even...if he needed to.

Gohan mentally sighed, because he wouldn't do that; for moral and tactical reasons.

If, hypothetically, he killed these people, he'd still be out of energy, and he'd still be running. It was pointless.

"I *huff* really, _really *_ huff* don't wanna hurt any of *huff* you." Gohan said as he took a step back. They probably wouldn't care.

Kakashi gave a slight shrug, "All evidence to the contrary."

'Figures. They think _I'm_ the bad guy here.' Gohan thought as his head lowered. He held out the lid, making the four jonin get into defensive stances, before he did the unexpected.

He dropped it right in front of them.

Knowing that act alone wouldn't be enough to convince them, and being on the verge of passing out from exhaustion again, he did the only other thing he could do. He looked at each of the adults in the eye.

At this, the four elite jonin stopped. As shinobi, they'd been trained to see through deception. The boy's act of dropping the trashcan lid could have been written off as him surrendering because he was outnumbered, but, the way to truly tell someone's intentions, were through their eyes. The boys, while exhausted, showed they were pure. The lack of tension in his muscles told the Jonin that the boy was ready to take whatever attack they through at him, if that would prove his virtue.

As the jonin holstered their weapons, the boys knees grew wobbly, Kakashi and Gai each grabbing the boy by an arm before he could pass out again.

"We're trusting you, don't make us regret it." Gai said to Gohan as the boy nodded, eyes closing and a small smile crossing his face in satisfaction.

Once his friends found him, this whole mess would get sorted out. In the meantime, he'd just have to be at these people's mercy.

Hopefully that wouldn't be so bad.

XXX

 **(DENDE'S LOOKOUT)**

The cries of a grieving mother resonated from the ancient sky temple.

The Z-Warriors, Bulma, Chi-Chi, the Ox-King, and Android #18 had gathered on the Guardian of Earth's lookout. The dead half-saiyan son of Bulma lay in front of the steps that led to the entrance to the sky temple.

The dragon balls lay gathered in front of the group, glowing and pulsating rhythmically like a heartbeat.

Bulma consoled the crying Son woman, who'd just received word of her husband and what she'd been led to believe was her only son's death.

"What, the _hell, happened?!_ " Bulma grated furiously at the Z-fighters. Despite her anger, a part of her knew it wasn't completely their faults. She'd watched most of the fight as it was broadcast live on T.V worldwide. It was Goku who'd been the one to make the call of putting his own son up against Cell, knowing full well the risk.

Yamcha was the one to answer his ex-girlfriend, "We don't know Bulma, when Gohan overpowered Cell he got swallowed up by his own ki."

"By the time we got back to the battlefield, he was gone." Tien said sorrowfully.

"Yeah," Krillin confirmed, "But what happened with Gohan's ki was weird." He got everyone's attention, "It was-"

"It doesn't matter what happened." Piccolo said, interrupting Krillin, "If Gohan's dead he'll be brought back with the Dragon Balls." The Namekian frowned, "It's just a shame he had to go through this."

He nodded to Dende, the little Namekian quickly raising his hands for the summons,

"Eternal Dragon. By Your name I summon you forth," The orange balls stopped pulsing, and glowed blindingly with a steady light, "Shenron!"

At the dragon's name, the evening skies darkened.

Lighting and thunder crackled from the heavens below the lookout. The balls exploded into a light so bright and intense, that everyone shielded their eyes.

An inhuman roar echoed over the sky temple, making the blonde Android who hadn't experienced the dragon before, shudder in fear.

BWOOM!

A pillar of light shot out from the Dragonballs and ascended into the sky, twisting and coiling for miles and miles until it took on finer details, like green scales, fish-like whiskers, and blood-red eyes. The three fingered clawed hands began to form next, before a near-blinding light exploded off the dragon.

Shenron, in all his eternal glory, loomed over the temple. Despite its prodigious size, the eastern-style dragon was only visible to those on the lookout. Looking over those who'd summoned him, the dragon boomed,

" **You, who have summoned me, speak your wishes so I may return to my slumber!"**

Yamcha was the one to speak, "Shenron, we ask for you to revive everyone who was killed by C-"

"Word this _carefully_ Yamcha." Krillin cautioned. They couldn't afford to leave anyone out because they screwed up the wording.

"Right." The ex-desert bandit said, "Can you revive everyone _good_ who was killed before and during the Cell games?"

 **"That, can be done!"** The dragon's red eyes glowed.

Bulma immediately looked to her future son's body. The hole that'd been blasted through his chest was sealed up, and color began to return to his once pale and clammy skin.

Trunks was revived.

Bulma left Chi-Chi's side and went to Trunks's as he stirred awake.

"M...Mother?" He said as he opened his eyes, recognizing the woman crouched next to him.

With a small smile the Briefs woman said, "It's good to have you back with us son."

Trunks sat up to see the other's gathered at the lookout, and the eternal dragon looming over them all. He was in awe. It'd been the first time he'd seen the dragon after all.

It was then he noticed, "Where's Goh-?"

"Damnit!" Piccolo roared, "I can't feel neither Goku _or_ Gohan's energy."

"What!? You're telling me I won't be getting my husband _or_ my baby back?!" Chi-Chi wailed as her father, the Ox-King, tried to console her. The woman wanted answers.

"That doesn't make sense," Tien said, "Goku was wished back before so it's reasonable that he wasn't brought back, but why not Gohan?"

 **"Because the one you know as Son Gohan, is not dead."** Shenron said, eliciting gasps from almost everyone.

"What!? How!?" Yamcha exclaimed in disbelief, "We saw him die!"

 **"That matters not to me, all I know is that I can not find Son Gohan in the afterlife."**

*Wait!* A familiar voice chimed in everyone's ears.

"G-Goku!?" Krillin, Yamcha, and Chi-Chi exclaimed.

*Now's not the time,* Goku voiced, *What happened to Gohan?!*

Krillin spoke to his best-friend, "We don't know buddy, when he overpowered Cell he got caught in the blast of his own ki... We assumed he'd been…" He did want to finish that sentence.

*Well, he's not here at the Check-In station. So Shenron isn't wrong. Do you guys have _any_ idea what could have happened?*

A silence from the Z-Warriors was all Goku got as an answer.

Bulma thought for a moment, before she turned to Krillin, "Tell me _exactly_ what you saw."

The bald man began to recite what he'd already told Bulma minutes earlier, and then some, "and then we saw lightning shoot out of the dome. Which," he scratched his chin, "doesn't happen normally. After that, and what's just as strange, is that instead of fading out like our ki does, it's as if it began to shrink in on itself, and vanish."

Bulma began thinking, putting her fingers to her chin as she did. "Just how strong were those Kamehameha's?" she asked.

Piccolo answered, "Cell said his was strong enough to wipe out the entire solar system. Gohan had to match that."

Bulma's eyes went up, "This might sound crazy, but…"

"But what, woman? What are you thinking?" Vegeta asked.

"Yeah spit it out already!" Chi-Chi ordered.

"Can you both relax?" Trunks asked.

"I'm _thinking_ ," Bulma said irritably, "that, as crazy as this sounds, that with _that_ much energy concentrated in a single area, well, it would have to go _somewhere._ And whatever matter was surrounded by that energy, probably got taken with it."

"Somewhere like?" Tien asked.

Bulma turned to Shenron, "Can you find Gohan _anywhere_ in our world? In our universe even?"

After a brief pause, **"No, I can not."**

"Aw, shit." Trunks said as he put two and two together.

" _Aw, shit,_ is right." Bulma said dreadfully, her biggest fear realized.

Chi-Chi approached the two Briefs desperately, "What, what's going on? Say something?"

"Gohan certainly isn't dead," Bulma said in hopes that she could calm the woman, "but, he isn't in our world, or apparently, not even our universe."

"You've gotta be kidding me." Yamcha groaned. He turned to Shenron, "Can you find Gohan anywhere?"

Growing irritable, the dragon boomed, **"No, Son Gohan no longer occupies this plane of existence."** His eyebrows furrowed, **"And my patience grows thin, state your second wish!"**

"Just hold on a moment." Bulma begged. She turned to the group, "If Gohan isn't dead, and he's not in this plane of existence, then this whole situation just got a lot more complicated." Her eyes narrowed, "Gohan may have gotten sent to a whole nother dimension."

"Well, that shouldn't be a problem." Krillin said, "The dragon can bring the dead back to life, he should still be able to bring Gohan back." He turned to Shenron, "Right?"

 **"Potentially, yes."** The dragon said, **"But I must warn you, there are a near infinite number of worlds beyond your own. I do not know which one your Son Gohan resides. There will be no telling how long it would take for me to find the correct one. At best, it could take at least a millenium. At worst, an eternity."**

Although saddened, Bulma understood, "It'd be like finding a needle in a universe filled with hay."

*So we can't use Shenron…* Goku realized. *Dende, contact the Namekians, tell them to wish me back.*

"Yes sir!" The little Namekian said.

Goku then spoke to his wife, *Chi-Chi, don't worry, I'm coming home.*

The woman sniffled, somewhat happy. She'd have her husband back at least.

 **"Make your final wish now!"** The dragon demanded. If they didn't, he'd be going to sleep for the next six months.

"If anyone has anything to wish for, make it." Piccolo said, eyes lowered to the ground.

Krillin's eyes went to #18, "I have one. Can you make Androids #17 and #18 human, turn them back into the people they used to be?"

The blonde Androids eyes widened at the short man's act of kindness towards her.

 **"That I can not do. The Androids power far exceeds my own."**

Krillin frowned, "Well, can you remove their bombs, at least?" he asked hopefully.

 **"That, I can do!"** Shenron's eyes glowed. #18 could feel a weight in her chest disappear, **"I have removed their explosive devices. I bid you farewell."**

And the dragon was gone in a burst of light. The Dragonballs themselves lifted into the sky of their own accord and then scattered to different corners of the earth. The sky cleared, and everything was back to normal.

#18 blushed before passing Krillin a side glance. With a snort, she shot off into the sky and off the rooftop.

Krillin sighed in disappointment. Tien patted his shoulder, "You tried." was all he had to say.

Trunks turned to Bulma, "Mom, we can't just leave Gohan out there. You're smart enough to build a Time Machine, I know you can come up with _someway_ to help bring him back _._ "

The word 'time machine' lit a fuse in Bulma's head, "That's it!" She snapped her fingers, getting the others attention. She turned to her son, "Trunks, your Time Machine breaches space and time in order to travel, right?"

The son of Vegeta nodded, "Yeah, yeah it does." He smirked, knowing exactly where she was going with this.

Bulma turned to Chi-Chi, "You have anything with Gohan's DNA, like a comb with his hair?"

"Yes!" Chi-Chi answered, her heart warming at the hope she'd been brought.

Punching her palm in elation, Bulma faced the group, "I think I know just how to bring Gohan back everyone, and it'll involve Trunks' Time Machine." Before anyone could object, she continued, "Think about it, Trunks proved that Time Travel operates on the multiverse theory. He breaches space time to get to us when he travels. If I can make some adjustments to it, I can modify it to not only travel through the different timelines created through his travels, but breach the extra-dimensional barriers between our world and others!"

"That's… genius Bulma!" Tien said in astonishment.

"But how do we find Gohan?" Piccolo asked, "We just sit back and hope Trunks gets lucky when he picks a world? If he isn't, he would be in the same predicament Shenron would if we sent him."

"That's why I would need a sample of Gohan's DNA." Bulma said, "With it, I could put together something that could trace him to whatever world he wound up in." She laughed, "If I can make a dragon ball locator, that shouldn't be too hard."

"How long would it take you to make!?" Chi-Chi desperately asked.

"Some weeks." The blue haired woman turned to her son, "If you'd be fine staying here for that long."

Trunks nodded, "Yeah, but you need to let me take care of business in my own time, first. Shouldn't take but a second from your perspectives."

"Absolutely." Bulma said. "It sounds like we have a plan everyone!"

Whoops and cheers came from Yamcha, Krillin, Dende, and the Ox-King.

*I knew I could count on you Bulma, thanks a lot!" Goku told his first friend from the afterlife.

The son of Vegeta knew he'd be the one to journey on this expedition. Though, he didn't mind. He owed his fallen master that much.

XXX

A/N: And here I'll end it. I decided to make Gohan's first interactions with Konoha shinobi a bit of a strained one, to say the least.

Now, the Dende's rooftop scenes, I would say are generally the same at their core, only I'm not keeping Trunks involvement in this fic a secret this go around, and the explanation of why Gohan got warped to the Elemental Nations is different as well. It makes about as little sense as a black hole just popping up out of nowhere and sucking him in, haha.

Anyways, tell me your thoughts in a review! Until next time!


	3. Welcome to the Shinobi World

A/N: Been a while since I updated this. Since there was another major 'Gohan goes to Konoha' fic that was gaining traction, I put this on the back burner. Anyways, I'm back and that's what matters!

XXX

 _ **Two Days Later**_

Within' the Jonin Standby Station, a building located next to the Ninja Academy, a handful of the villages elite took occupancy within a room on the top floor of the building. Under the Hidden Leaf's starry night sky, one could see a light shine through one of the windows to this room.

"Did Lord Hokage come to a decision?" Gai asked Kakashi, Kurenai, and Asuma. The three jonin in question pondered the last few days as other ninja in the room listened in.

Asuma, from his position on the couch, shrugged, "I haven't gotten any updates from him. Kurenai?" He asked the red eyed beauty at the couch across from him.

The ebony haired kunoichi thought for a moment before speaking, "Lord Hokage won't be making a decision until Inoichi returns. Until then, the boy will keep residency within' the village."

"Are we not gonna talk about how bad an idea this is?" A woman with dark purple hair, brown eyes, and dressed in a tan trench coat over fishnet said. She leaned against the wall, arms folded.

A man wearing shades and a bandana styled hitai-ate responded to her, "The boy's in and out of consciousness, Anko. He's got 24-hour surveillance with Anbu surrounding-"

"He took down _five_ Anbu with one arm, Ebisu. _While_ borderline unconscious." Anko reminded the room, "The _instant_ he fully wakes up we could all be in some deep shit."

"And this time, he'd have had time to rest before makin' a move." Another jonin with a senben dangling dangerously from his lips pointed out.

"Exactly." A scarred jonin with a bandana styled hitai-ate said, "I don't trust the gaki for a second."

"I do, Ibiki." Gai said to the scarred man, "Kakashi-kun does, Kurenai-chan does,"

"Speak for yourself." The red-eyed kunoichi said, "It wasn't _my_ call to bring him in."

"Wasn't mine neither." Asuma said.

Ibiki nodded, "Your too trusting for your own good Gai. Just think, kid with that kind of strength and skill, he's been trained and trained well. He'd have to be from a village, an enemy village. Why else would he see a leaf headband and run."

"Maybe he's just a kid who doesn't know where he is." A woman with straight, purple hair reaching down to her waist, brown eyes, and red lipstick said. She wore the standard jonin attire, "Sometimes the simple answer solves a complicated question." She looked to the silver haired jonin, "Wouldn't you agree Kakashi?"

"Of course he agrees, Yugao." Asuma answered for him, "That's why he's not contributing to the conversation… _wouldn't you agree Kakashi_?" he mimicked.

"Absolutely." The jonin said, pushing off from the wall he leaned on. "I mean, putting myself in his situation, I don't blame him for running. Sure, he got physical with the Anbu, but it's likely he felt threatened. He reacted accordingly."

Ibiki raised an eyebrow, "So you, Gai, and Yugao are just gonna buy into his 'scared and confused kid' act? I thought you were all better than this."

"The Hokage certainly buys it." Kakashi said, "Unless your gonna say he's 'better than this' to his _face_ …"

"Fair enough Kakashi." Ibiki said in defeat.

Gai flashed a smile, "Just trust us, we're making the right call."

XXX

Hiruzen sat in his office after the next few mornings, before a Chunin opened his office door. "Lord Hokage, Inoichi has returned." He stepped to the side to allow a man with long blonde hair tied in a ponytail to step into the doorway. The man had calm blue-green eyes and strong facial features. His outfit was of the standard flak jacket over a black outfit with hand-guards and forehead protector.

"Lord Hokage," Inochi addressed his superior with a bow, "the mission was a success. All intel has been recovered."

"Excellent work, as expected." Hiruzen said, "I expect you've received word on our current dilemma?"

"If you mean the young enigma, yes." Inoichi said, "I'm ready to confront him when you see fit."

Sarutobi rolled up his scroll, and got out of his chair.

XXX

Hiruzen and Inoichi stood outside of the boys hospital room, peering in from the hallway window. Gohan's arm was still wrapped in a cast, with most of the bandages around his face and leg having been removed. The demi-saiyan's eyes were half-open, showing he was somewhat conscious.

It was amazing really. The boy recovered from dire injuries in _days,_ injuries that would take the average person weeks to months to recover from. Within a few more days, the boy would be fresh as a daisy.

Anbu were still lined around the room, all eyes locked on the pre-teen.

The two men walked into the room, Gohan drowsily turning to look at them.

"Hello son," Sarutobi started, "My name is Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village. What is yours?"

Gohan waited a second, pondering on this new information. The hell was a 'Hokage'? The demi-saiyan eyed the mans white robes, getting the hint that they symbolised some sort of importance. The Hokage must have been the villages leader, or one of them. He replied back with a simple, "Son Gohan."

This was satisfying to the Fire Shadow. After having the boy in the village for over a week, they were just now getting a name out of him.

"Gohan, I'm going to ask you a few questions." Sarutobi said, "You _will_ answer them truthfully. You will omit nothing. Understood?" The Fire Shadows voice held an edge that told the teen he was a ruler that tolerated no nonsense.

The son of Goku nodded.

"Where are you from, Gohan?" Hiruzen said, still getting used to the boys name.

"Mt. Paozu, East District 439." Gohan answered. He had nothing to hide from these people, but he really had no obligation to be open to them. So he'd be as short with them as possible.

The Fire-Shadow raised an eyebrow, that location being completely unknown to him. "What _country_ are you from?"

"I'm not from a country," Gohan said, "I'm from Region 36."

Trading puzzled looks... Inoichi and Hiruzen suddenly knew something was _very_ wrong.

"I believe you're a long way from home." Inoichi said.

"I figured."

"Did you now?" Sarutobi asked, not expecting that response.

"I have friends you know." Gohan said, "If I were anywhere... _nearby_ ," the demi-saiyan used that word loosely, "I think they would have found me by now."

Sarutobi's wrinkled brow furrowed, "What was that technique you were using when you arrived here? The one that destroyed the forest outside my village."

The saiyan hesitated for a second, before saying, "A special ki-attack."

"Ki?!" the Hokage asked as Inoichi glared at the boy in disbelief.

"That's what I said. Guess you're not used to the concept." Gohan said with a soft chuckle.

"To use your lifeforce as a means of attack… it seems… absurd." Hiruzen said, not believing the boy for a second. That attack he used had to be chakra based. Sure its destructive capabilities were awe-inspiring, but its said that bijuu and the jinchuuriki who held them were capable of such destruction as well.

Could he be...

Shaking off that possibility, Hiruzen asked his next question,

"What were you doing before you arrived?"

Gohan thought for a moment, before deciding it would be best if he didn't tell them the full details. Tell them what they deserved to know, "I was fighting a monster that tried to kill my friends and family."

"Noble." Hiruzen said. "Why did you attack our Anbu?"

"They started it." Gohan said, glaring at the masked Shinobi lined around the room, "I woke up and they tried to kill me."

"So it was an act of self-defense." Hiruzen stroked his goatee.

"Or so he says." Inoichi said, still not convinced.

"Which is why you'll reveal the truth." Sarutobi said as he stepped away from Gohan, allowing Inoichi the room to approach the teen.

When the blonde man reached for Gohan's temple, the saiyan flinched, making Inoichi warn, "Do _not_ fight me on this. My intent is _not_ to hurt you." his voice, much like Hiruzen's, held an underlying edge to it. "Just hold still."

He placed his hand to Gohan's head, and closed his eyes.

The Yamanaka's consciousness shifted into the saiyan teen's, the man now given access to a wide range of the boys memories that rendered themselves to him like a film.

 _The setting of this first memory was on an island. Inoichi saw a young boy, no older than four or five, in a yellow and green tunic hiding behind a man in an orange Gi with wild, gravity defying hair. A red hat sat atop the boys head, though Inoichi noticed a strange orange ball perched atop the hat, the man didn't pay it too much mind. Inoichi instantly recognized the boy as Gohan, and assumed the man as his father._

 _The man and the boy faced three other people; a woman with short blue hair, a short bald man, and an elderly man with shades. The expression on Gohan's father told Inoichi that the man was greeting old friends._

" _He's my son." Goku said, "His names Gohan."_

 _Que shocked reactions from those present._

' _So that covers his name.' Inoichi thought, knowing that viewing the rest of this little scene was unnecessary. He skimmed forward in time to view the truth about his so called ki powers._

 _He came to what had to be months after the last memory. The setting of this one was of a mountainous landscape. Inoichi's eyes widened as Gohan, battle scarred and dressed in an orange gi, did battle with a 7-foot green...man... if it could be called that._

" _What the hell is that thing!?" Inoichi said to himself as the namekian blocked a punch from Gohan, before slamming his fist into the boys gut. Gohan gagged, eyes wide open in pain as his mentor grabbed him by his gi collar, and socked him in his jaw, sending him into one of the rocky pillars._

 _The Yamanaka man winced as the pillar collapsed around the boy. The kid was no more than five and he was taking these kinds of beatings? He gasped as the child shot off into the air, levitating high above his sensei with his hands filled with ki._

" _He can fly?!" Inoichi thought in surprise. He gasped again as a yellow light filled the boys right hand, before he shot it at Piccolo._

 _The namekian grunted in contempt before swatting the yellow beam of ki off into the horizon._

 _Inoichi's eyes widened as the Ki's detonation could be seen from hundreds of miles away, a small yellow flash appearing like a lighting strike in the distance._

 _Before Gohan even knew what hit him, Piccolo's knee came up under his chin, knocking him up as the namekian grabbed him by his ankle, and drove the boy into the hard ground below._

" _Pathetic!" Piccolo barked at his student as he stood over him, "You need to charge your energy before you attack, a ki blast like that won't so much as phaze a saiyan!"_

 _A chill ran through the blonde haired man's spine, 'That was a weak attack?' he thought to himself as his imagination showed him what a powerful ki attack would be like._

 _The man went forward in time, seeing glimpses of the boy doing battle with various monstrosities. A fight that stood out to him took place on a planet that couldn't be Earth; with green skies and blue grass lands. The villain of this fight was an 8 foot tall being with ox-like horns that appeared to the Yamanaka as some sort of demon._

 _Frieza_

 _Gohan, in a fit of rage, kicked the tyrant in the head and followed up with a flurry of punches and kicks to the tyrants gut. The boy finished his barrage with a particularly punishing kick to Frieza's torso, blasting the tyrant into an island below._

 _Roaring in fury, the saiyan powered his hands with ki, before unleashing a hellish barrage of blasts upon the frost demon._

" _Unreal." Inoichi said to himself as he watched the boy unleash hell upon the monster that hurt his friend. The jonin went slightly forward in time. He caught a glimpse of Gohan's father, muscles thicker and with a crown of golden locks sprouting from his skull._

" _Kekkai-Genkai perhaps?" Inoichi thought as he made a mental note of it. He went much further in time to figure out just what the boy was doing before he got to the leaf._

 _Inoichi was standing among the Z-Warriors, the men overlooking a battered Gohan who stood head held high against… something else. An insect like creature that held the facial features of a man, though everything else about the being told the jonin that it was some sort of grasshopper that got spliced with a human being._

 _It seemed like the sort of creature that that psychopath, Orochimaru, would cook up in his twisted experiments._

 _The Yamanaka glanced back over to Gohan, or at least Inoichi had to assume it was Gohan. The boy was the only one absent among the men he stood with, and the boy down on the battlefield seemed to possess the same Kekkai-Genkai that he saw Goku with moments ago, only the boy's aura held an electrical flare to it._

 _Inoichi caught a glimpse of the corpse of a lavender haired man being held by a man with facial scars._

' _Unlucky bastard.' Inoichi thought as he focused back to the battlefield below. As he took in Gohan's condition, looking much the same here as he did in the hospital room he currently occupied, Inoichi felt bad for the kid. From the looks of things, the boy spent much of his childhood training and participating in fights to the death with various monsters. What kid could want that?_

 _Inoichi stumbled as gold aura's surrounded the two fighters. It was incredible. Without even having been there, the man could feel the power the fighters were putting out._

" _I'm through dealing with your insanity Cell," he heard Gohan say as the boy powered up his one handed Kamehameha, "it's over, I won't allow you to live!"_

 _Inoichi could hear Cell chuckle as he charged his own Kamehameha, "I assure you boy, you'll be sending your father my regards in the next world."_

 _As the blasts fired, Inoichi went further in time._

 _He stood next to Gohan as the boy stirred awake. The second Gohan's eyes peeled open, he sat up in bed with a start, the Anbu in his room immediately reacting._

" _He's awake!" one of them shouted._

" _You better stay down!" Another one shouted as he pulled a knife._

 _At this, Gohan frowned, and lunged at the Anbu near the doors._

Inoichi's blinking eyes signaled Sarutobi that the man was brought back to reality. The Yamanaka turned to Hiruzen, Gohan staring at both men questionably.

"Lord Hokage, if I may?" Inoichi asked as he held a hand towards the door.

Nodding, Hiruzen and Inoichi stepped out into the hallway.

"What did you see?" Sarutobi asked the man.

Inoichi took a split second to gather all of his thoughts, all of his information, before speaking, "Well, I didn't search the boys entire life story, but from what I've seen, and from what he tells us, I guess you could say Gohan's an honest actor. It would also appear he has a strong sense of justice."

"Did you find out anything about this, _East District 439_ area the boy comes from?" Sarutobi asked.

"There's no easy way to tell you this my Lord, and I couldn't give you the answers but," he braced himself for whatever reaction his leader would have, "the kids not from Earth, or at least, he's not from _our_ Earth."

The Hokage's eyes narrowed at the man, though he said nothing.

"That sounds plausible." The Third said. "You've confirmed that his energy is that of Ki?"

"Yes. It seems to be the primary source of energy where he comes from." Inoichi said, "The amount of power-"

Hiruzen silenced Yamanaka with a raise of his hand. No need to tell the man something he already knew.

"What do you plan to do with him?" Inoichi asked.

"You say he's a good person." Hiruzen said, "Since I trust your judgement, I'll grant him refuge in the Leaf for the time being. With his power, I'm sure you can guess what my plans are for him."

"Understandable." Inoichi said.

"Thank you for your help Inoichi-kun. Your dismissed." Hiruzen said. Sarutobi walked back into the demi-saiyans room. He looked to the Anbu, "Dismissed." He said.

The ninja's vanished.

Gohan raised a questionable eyebrow to Hiruzen.

"Rest up Gohan." Hiruzen said, "I want you in my office at first light tomorrow." Sarutobi said as he left out.

XXX

 **That Night**

"So he's letting him stay." Asuma said. He, Kurenai, Kakashi, and Gai having their own meeting. "Guess you two called it." He said in reference to Gai and Kakashi.

"Of course," Gai said cheerfully, "I know a good heart when I see one, consider it my sixth sense."

"So what, we're just gonna hold on to him until his people come for him, wherever the hell they are?" Kurenai asked, "Surely with his skill and abilities, Lord Third will try to weave him into the forces."

"Is that a bad thing?" Gai asked.

"It can be." Kurenai said, "He'll have no real loyalty to us. Just because he's a good person, doesn't mean his judgement will always be the right call. Let's say he comes to view us as an enemy. What will we do?"

"This village can always find its way." Kakashi said, "If this village can come out on top against the Nine Tails, we'll come out on top against this 'Gohan' character. Guaranteed."

The red eyed kunoichi still looked unsure, but she submitted. She changed the subject, "That energy he's using, this ki. Think it's possible that we could learn it?" Kurenai asked.

"Dunno. I'd like to really see more of it in action." Kakashi said, "If the kid can handle a pack of Anbu with no effort, I'd love to see what he's capable of when the chips are down."

"I can't say I agree with you." Asuma said, "That's a scary thought."

XXX

 **The Next Morning**

The doors to Hiruzen's office opened once more, the Hokage being greeted to Gohan who'd been escorted by a random jonin.

The saiyan was given a plain black t-shirt, though he was still dressed in his wrecked purple gi-pants.

"Good morning Gohan, glad you could make it." Hiruzen said as the boy stood before him.

"Glad I could be here sir." Gohan said politely with a smile. His eyes traveled around the Hokage's office, his eyes beaming in glee when he saw his cape and weights lying on the floor next to a stack of books.

Hiruzen smiled and nodded to the demi-saiyan's cape, giving the boy permission to retrieve it. Those weights took three men to carry into his office. He wanted to see with his own eyes how the boy could wear those weights.

Gohan walked up, and with one hand, picked up the weights and threw them up in the air, letting them come down perfectly over his head to rest over his shoulders.

The jonin that escorted Gohan had to admit... the caped look suited the teen.

"It took three men to carry those weights." Hiruzen told the demi-saiyan, "Just what are they made out of."

"Honestly...I don't know." Gohan admitted, "It's a custom made padding that my sensei constructed. The reason it weighs so much, is because I can amplify its density with how much ki I funnel into it."

Nodding, Sarutobi decided to get to business, "Now, Gohan, I understand you have a home to go back to, but as of now, I don't think you'll be going anywhere." The Third said, "Would you agree?"

The saiyan thought for a second, before nodding his head, "Not until my friends find me or get me back home somehow, I guess not."

"Excellent." Hiruzen said, "During your stay here, I think you should look at making a life for yourself, earn pay for clothes on your back, food in your stomach, and a roof over your head."

Again Gohan nodded, "I could do that. I really don't wanna be a leech."

"Good, now, considering your ...above average level of strength and fighting skill, I think you should join our shinobi forces."

"Shinobi, those are ninja right?" Gohan asked, already not liking the idea of this. "What all does being a shinobi entail?"

"You'll be a soldier for the village." The Hokage said, "You'd work through the ranks, and perform missions as a form of payment. These missions can include anything from escorting important figures, gathering secret information, retrieving stolen items, and carrying out assassinations." Hiruzen said.

Gohan spoke up, "So correct me if I'm wrong, I'll be involved in a business that revolves around murder and deceit?" The teen said to Hiruzen, who didn't tell the teen he was wrong… he didn't say anything at all actually, which answered Gohan's question, "I'm sorry, but I don't look for fights. If I fight for any reason it's to protect someone I know is in danger." The demi-saiyan's eyes narrowed, "I don't think me and a shinobi lifestyle are compatible."

Sarutobi looked dissatisfied with that response, though he wasn't going to fault the boy for sticking to his principles, "I can respect that, though I really think you should consider it."

"I don't mean to sound disrespectful, but I won't." Gohan said, "I'll find a way to make a living, you won't need to worry about me." the saiyan said as he turned on his heel, "And I'm _more_ than willing to help out around your village, and provide assistance where it's needed, but it'll have to be through _my_ _own_ judgement."

"That's fair." the Third said as he held his hand to the door, "I hope you'll successfully make a life for yourself, Gohan-kun." Hiruzen said as Gohan reached the door, "Oh, and Gohan," he stopped the saiyan before he could leave,

"Welcome to the world of Shinobi."

XXX

A/N: I'll leave it at there. Now, just so we're clear, yes. You read right. Gohan WON'T be a Leaf shinobi. At least for a good time being. I've done some thinking, and I reasoned that shinobi life and Gohan, really wouldn't be compatible. I'm NOT telling you Gohan won't EVER be a shinobi at all for the fic, but for now, he won't be. A cool thing about this, I think, will be that I'll be allowed more free reign with how Gohan interacts with the shinobi world, as in, one chapter he can be in the Leaf, later on he can be in the Sand Village, or he might pal around with Team 7 on their adventures for a while, and he can pal around with Team 8 or 10 for another while.

Also don't forget, in my original fic, Naruto was something of a background character instead of a deuteragonist like he was in Mirai Shinobi. This is Gohan and Trunks fic. Not Naruto's.

Anyways, please review. I love knowing your thoughts. If there's something you hated, please let me know. I can't improve unless you call me out on my faults. Until next time.


	4. Uzumaki

ANNOUNCEMENT: **STOP** leaving me comments in the reviews saying 'Gohan at 1% Could destroy the planet/10 year old Base Gohan at 1% would Solo the Narutoverse/Gohan In his base Form would Easily Butt Rape Kaguya/' etc etc blah blah blah. I already said I'm not nerfing the saiyans. Do **NOT** remind me. If you leave me a comment like this from here on out, I swear to Christ, it will be deleted. If you have an account, I will block you. This is my only warning.

Stop it.

XXX

"Naruto, get back here!"

A trio of Chunin chased down a snickering blonde boy hopping the village rooftops.

"Hahaha! When will you dorks ever learn!?" the boy cackled as he swing from a telephone line and onto the village streets. He shoved through the villagers strolling the roads and hopped over the food carts in streets, gaining a string of curses from annoyed villagers as he did.

The orange-clad teen smirked and looked behind him, seeing he'd gained a great amount of distance ahead of those chasing him.

Just before he could face forward, he ran smack dab into something rock solid, his lights getting knocked out as he hit the ground.

With swirls in his eyes and a silly expression on his faze, he loopily asked, "Who put that brick wall there?" As he shook himself from his daze, he noticed there wasn't a brick wall in front of him, but some caped wearing kid around his age with his back turned to him.

Gohan, having felt something soft and squishy push into his back, turned in question to see a blonde kid with whisker marks on his cheeks staring at him in wonder as he lay sprawled on the ground.

The son of Goku could instantly tell this kid was a leaf shinobi by the hitai-ate tied to his forehead.

"Oh, sorry!" the demi-saiyan said with a smile as he offered the boy a hand, the only hand he _could_ give him that wasn't in a cast, "Guess I was in your way, haha."

"Uh, its cool, no problem." Naruto looked around in confusion before he looked to Gohan, taking the saiyan's hand. As he was lifted to his feet he still found himself looking around before turning back to Gohan, "You didn't happen to see a brick wall or a big boulder or anything like that nearby, have you?" he asked the demi-saiyan.

One could almost see the question mark appear over Gohan's head, as he too looked around, "No, I can't say I have." he said awkwardly.

Naruto gazed at the saiyan with squinted eyes, before his expression lit up in alarm at the sound of running footsteps, "Quick, follow me!" he urged the ebony haired teen with a shove as he dipped into a back alleyway.

Hesitating, Gohan could hear the approaching Chunin as well. Knowing he absolutely could **not** afford to get in anymore trouble in this village, the saiyan followed Naruto into the alley.

The whiskered troublemaker stood against a wooden picket fence, Gohan following up to stand with him. Naruto handed the demi-saiyan the end of a sheet with a wooden fence design on the front, "Hold this up!"

"Wait, what were you keeping this in?" Gohan asked. He noticed there weren't any pockets on Naruto big enough to hold this sheet. Maybe he didn't wanna know the answer.

"Just shut up and hold it dude!" Naruto said as the two held up the sheet, the wooden fence design camouflaging the two boys as the Chunin ran right passed, missing them.

Waiting for a few seconds to make sure the men were gone, Naruto breathed a sigh of relief, and snatched the sheet from Gohan with a grin, "Thanks for the help man, but I can tell your a noob."

Gohan scratched the back of his head with a nervous laugh, "Yeah, sorry, I guess I'm kinda new to mischief. I guess you do things like this all the time?"

Naruto smirked and jabbed a thumb to himself, "Renegade for life." His eyes then lit up when he realised the situation he was in.

Unfamiliar face. Friendly interaction.

'Can't let this slip.' the blonde thought as he held out his hand to the ebony haired kid, "Naruto Uzumaki, nice to meet ya'!"

"Oh," Gohan smiled and shook Naruto's hand, "my name's Gohan, Son Gohan." The demi-saiyan eyed this Naruto kid, liking this kids orange and blue jumpsuit. It reminded the saiyan of his old man's gi. "What did you do to make those guys chase you?"

A mischievous grin slipped across Naruto's face, "Lets just say; paper bag+matches+dog shit= _my_ entertainment. I just so happened to be passing by the Chunin Standbye station when the idea popped in my head." he tapped his noggin with his index finger.

It was then the whiskered outcast took in the way Gohan really looked; tattered pants, worn out cape, casted arm, and bandage on his left cheek. "Uh, no offense," Naruto started, scratching his cheek, "but are you a bum?"

The saiyan's eyebrows raised in surprise, before looking back at the clothes he was wearing, blushing in embarrassment, he said, "Actually... yeah I am. I'm kinda new around here." he said with a slight laugh.

Naruto rubbed his chin, "Street kid, huh. Come on, I think I can help you out." He nodded his head towards the end of the alley, intent on taking Gohan back to his apartment.

"Wait, but you just met me! Why do you wanna help." Gohan asked the Uzumaki.

Naruto smiled at the demi-saiyan, "Honestly, I dunno. You seem like a cool guy." he put his fist to chest, "And I have a heart for people who need help, I've been there."

Gohan smiled, "Alright then, let's go!" he followed the blonde outcast.

XXX

When Naruto opened his apartment door, Gohan was expecting something along the lines of a decent, modestly furnished home, and two parents roaming the house.

What Gohan saw, was not this.

The demi-saiyan took one sweeping glance around the Uzumaki's suite, and realized that the blonde teen had been living a hard life. Everything Naruto owned looked like its previous owners had thrown it out and he'd simply come along and picked it up. The fabric on his couches were worn out and splitting, the wooden chairs in his small dining room seemed like they were a couple sittings from falling apart, empty ramen cups littered his kitchen counters, dirty clothes littered the boys floor and furniture...among other things.

'Where's this kids parents?' Gohan wondered. Did they just not care? No parent could tolerate their kid leaving their house in such a deplorable state.

"I know it's not much but," the whiskered blonde said cheerfully, "welcome to the Uzumaki manor!"

Gohan put on a fake smile to hide his concern, "It's great." the saiyan lied as he followed Naruto inside, "I guess your parents aren't home?" The saiyan's fake smile cleared into an expression of sadness when Naruto froze for a split second.

The whiskered teen turned to the saiyan, eyes wide and small smile on his face. The saiyan noticed a slight twitch come from Naruto's left eye, "In a way, you could say that." he said.

It was then Gohan only noticed two rooms at the back of the apartment. One was a bathroom, and the other was Naruto's bedroom.

There was no parent room.

Suddenly it all made sense to Gohan. He wouldn't question the whiskered pre-teen anymore.

Naruto whipped open a medium-sized wardrobe next to his bed, before opening a dresser to the bottom of it.

With a bit of scrambling, the blonde knucklehead pulled out a pair of dark blue joggers, "These good? I have other colors, but you seem like more of a 'blue' guy ya' know."

Gohan frowned and looked down, rubbing his cast as he shook his head, "Look, Naruto, I appreciate what you're trying to do for me, but," he looked at his surroundings, "I just can't let myself take anything from you." he turned to the door, "Thanks bu-"

The blonde slammed the door shut before the saiyan could walk through, annoyed glare on the jinchuuriki's face. He roughly shoved the pants into Gohan's chest, "You should learn how to accept a gift. Take...the damn...pants. And if I find them anywhere _not_ on your legs, I'll break your other arm. Got it!"

Sweatdropping, Gohan sighed and nodded.

"Good!" Naruto said cheerfully, "Now put'em on."

XXX

The blonde teen led Gohan to the front door, "It's great meeting ya' Gohan, I guess I'll see you around?"

"Yeah, it's great meeting you too Naruto." the saiyan gave the knucklehead a thumbs up. "Thanks again, I'll see ya' around!"

As the ebony haired saiyan walked away, Naruto scratched his cheek in thought, before an invisible light bulb lit over his head.

"Hey Gohan!" The saiyan turned to Naruto who ran up to him, "You said you were new to the village, right? How much have you seen?"

"Not much. Why?" Though Gohan had an idea what Naruto was thinking.

A smile spread across Naruto's face, "Come on, I'm gonna give you a tour!" He clapped the saiyan on the back and walked ahead of him. Gohan eagerly followed after his friend.

XXX

Standing on a rooftop with Naruto, the half-saiyan found himself before a Mount Rushmore-esque mountain near the outer lip of the village.

"I welcome you to our first stop, a little place called Hokage Rock!" the blonde said to the saiyan who observed the four faces carved and sculpted into the mountain. Gohan noticed a younger looking Hiruzen Sarutobi was carved into the rock, overlooking his village much like he did now.

"So," Gohan asked Naruto, "if there's four Kage's, why have I only seen one?"

The blondes blue eyes widened, "You really _aren't_ from around here. There's only _one_ Kage that rules the village at a time. The Third Hokage calls all of the shots until he either retires, or dies."

Gohan glanced back up to the Hokage to the right of the Third Hokage, a man with spiky hair much like Naruto's, "I guess the Fourth Hokage died recently?"

Nodding his head, Naruto said sullenly, "Yeah. He died around the same time my parents did." He rubbed his head, "When the Nine Tailed Fox attacked the village 12 years ago, he gave his life sealing it into...someone." He shrugged like he didn't know, "When he passed, old man Third took up the mantle again."

"The Fourth Hokage died sacrificing himself, huh." Gohan mumbled, that sounded _all_ too familiar.

"Yup, the guys a true hero. Maybe the best Hokage we ever had." Naruto said as he smiled happily at Gohan, "But no disrespect to him, I plan on being even better!"

"You're gonna be the Hokage?" Gohan asked.

"Hell yeah! One day!" Naruto exclaimed, "That's my life's goal and dream. It's all I've ever wanted." He tapped his Leaf headband, "And now that I got this, I'm on the path."

Gohan took a long look at Naruto's headband, "How long have you been a shinobi?"

The blonde looked up, cheesing as he did, "About two days, I guess. If you want me to be honest, I haven't even gotten my team yet." he said while scratching the back of his head.

The saiyan didn't know what to think of this Naruto kid. He seemed like a nice guy who'd be willing to give the shirt off his back to someone less fortunate, yet, he was so eager and willing to be a shinobi. A cutthroat soldier that was willing to murder for the sake of money, and because his higher-up ordered it.

Should it have mattered at all to Gohan if Naruto wanted to be a shinobi? The blonde already proved to the saiyan that he was a genuinely good person. The son of Goku wasn't gonna be a bigot, if he became that he'd be just like his mother.

Though, the saiyan could sense a strange...essence, coming from Naruto. Something dark, malicious, maybe even...evil. But it didn't feel like Naruto. It was like a completely separate being, but that being was standing right where Naruto was.

"Anyways," Naruto swerved on his heel, "we've already covered the Hokage building, Academy, Training grounds, and Zoo, I think I'll show you my favorite restaurant!"

At the mention of food, the saiyan realized he hadn't eaten the entire day.

'It's about time.' the saiyan thought with a smile. The two hopped off the rooftop and ran through the streets.

Unknown to the two, they were being watched from several buildings away. A Chunin with a scar running horizontally across the bridge of hs nose stood on a rooftop, gazing proudly at the boys as they ran off into the streets

"Makin' friends already huh?" Iruka said to himself as he vanished in a swirl of leaves.

XXX

Iruka appeared outside the Hokage's office door, though he could hear recognizable voices coming from the inside. He decided to wait it out and listen,

"The boy has shown he can handle our villages elite, yet you allow him to run rampant within' the village?" An old woman with gray hair locked in twin buns asked the Hokage. It'd be hard to tell if her eyes were open due to her hard squinting. The woman was accompanied by two other elders; a frowning man with grey hair, a beard, and glasses; and another man with black, shaggy hair, an 'x'-like scar on his chin, and a bandaged right eye.

"If he knows he can over power us with pure physical ability, what makes you think he'll abide by the villages laws?" The Elder with the glasses asked.

Hiruzen spoke up, "The boy has proven to be of good moral character. You will not argue against my judgement." He looked to the bandaged elder, "The boy doesn't owe the village anything, Danzo. I will not force him into the shinobi forces if he's shown disinterest in it."

"The village treated the boy's wounds over a span of six days." Danzo said. "If he is of good character like you claim, he should want to repay the debts he owes."

"And he will do that on his own merit, I'm sure of it." Hiruzen said, "It seems that you've forgotten that a shinobi _must_ have an undying loyalty to his or her village, which Son Gohan does not have. Your idea of turning the boy into a weapon against his wishes and principles are asinine." The Hokage's eyes narrowed at Danzo, "And it is _not_ a principle that this village is built on. You will mention the idea to me no more."

Almost on cue, a knocking was heard at the door.

"Come in." Hiruzen permitted.

The door opened to Iruka, "I'm sorry to intrude." the man said with a bow, "I have news on Son Gohan that I believe is worth sharing."

The Chunin now had the four elders undivided attention. "It appears Gohan has gotten himself acquainted with Naruto. I'd say the two have hit it off quite well so far." Iruka said with a smile.

Hiruzen's eyes widened, not quite expecting this bit of news, especially not so soon. It was then he smiled, "This is good. This is very good. Where are the two now?" He asked.

"I believe they've headed to Ichiraku's Ramen shop." Iruka said, "If you know Naruto as well as I, then you know that's his go to spot for lunch and dinner."

Sarutobi thought on some things, before he gave Iruka a serious stare, "Join them, accompany them. I want Gohan and Naruto to have this friendship." The Third ordered.

Although Iruka gave his superior a questionable look, he knew better than to question him. The man Shunshined out of the Hokage's office.

It was then Hotaru turned back to the Hokage, frowning as she asked the man, "What are you thinking?"

The Third pinched his chin as he pondered, "I'm thinking, we use this friendship of Naruto and Gohan to our advantage. If Gohan can form enough friendships, connections, and relationships within' the village; preferably with shinobi, then he may just build up the loyalty he'd need to join the forces of his own regard."

Although he didn't show it, Danzo was pleased with this idea. Though, he still had his own agenda.

He needed to test out the boys ki abilities.

XXX

"And that's two bowls of Miso Pork Ramen," A teenage girl wrote down on a notepad. She wore a white robe with the sleeves folded, a sort of dark blue apron with ribbon ties at the top and a white bandanna. The standard waitress uniform for the Ichiraku Ramen Shop, "will that be everything guys?"

"You know what I like Ayame." Naruto said as he folded his arms behind his head, "Make sure you hook Gohan up, he's new in town." the blonde said.

"Oh, don't worry, I will." Ayame said as she winked at the saiyan, making him blush.

"So Gohan, where you from kid?" Teuchi asked the mop topped pre-teen.

Eyes widening, the saiyan knew he had to think fast. He couldn't tell him about his actual home, , because then that'd lead to a whole nother set of questions that he really didn't wanna answer. And on top of that, the son of Goku was a terrible liar. So maybe, he could settle for half truth?

"Uh, a small far away village." Gohan quickly said, scratching his face.

"Oh really, what's it's name, maybe I've heard of it."

"Er, we don't really have a name for it. It's kinda out in the mountains." the saiyan said, hoping that would be enough for Teuchi.

"Was it in the Land of Fire?" Teuchi asked, to which Gohan nodded. It was then the older man started to think out loud, "A village out in the mountains?" he started thinking about all of his travels from back in his hayday. There weren't very many mountains within' the Land of fire. The mountains that he'd traveled through that _were_ in the Land of FIre, didn't have any villages.

Though Teuchi wasn't gonna bust the kids chops, he still knew he caught something of a hole in Gohan's story. The man would let it go.

It was then Ayame brought out two piping hot bowls of ramen, "Alright guys, your bowls of heaven are ready!" she set the bowls down in front of the boys, Naruto instantly picking up two chopsticks and licking his lips.

The smell of the ramen flooded the demi-saiyan's nostrils, the sweet smell of the pork almost pushing his senses into overdrive.

Suddenly the chopsticks disappeared from Naruto's hands, the blonde's eyes widening in surprise. He turned to Gohan, his blue eyes now widening in fear. The demi-saiyan's onyx eyes now held a crazed look within' them as he stared at his ramen bowl. Similar to a starving wolf that just caught a wounded deer.

Within' a span of four and a half seconds, the saiyan scarfed down the ramen, the noodles completely disappearing from the saiyan's bowl, down his mouth, and into his stomach. The saiyan was now eagerly slurping the broth from the bowl, a trail of the soup drizzling down a corner of the saiyans mouth.

Gently setting the empty bowl down, Gohan let out a satisfied "Ahhhhh."

He turned to Naruto who stared at him with a look of awe.

"The heck…" was all Naruto had to say.

Knowing he'd gotten ahead of himself, the saiyan scratched the back of his head, "Heh, sorry Naruto. I took you're chopsticks."

The blonde gave the saiyan a deadpan look, the son of Goku having completely missed the point of Naruto's awe.

"It's okay dude." Naruto said as he picked up another pair of sticks.

A growl still came from Gohan's gut.

"Don't look at me. You only get one bowl and one bowl only." Naruto said as he began slurping his ramen, "Don't take it personally, I only have enough for one bowl. Until I start my missions."

Gohan nodded, still appreciating the Uzumaki's patronage. He'd given the saiyan food and clothes out of his own kindness. No way he wouldn't be grateful.

"Naruto might be broke, but it doesn't mean I am." a new voice cut in.

"Iruka-Sensei!" Naruto said gleefully as his once academy teacher approached to the two boys.

"Mind if I join you?" The scarred Chunin asked the two boys. Naruto happily patted the seat next to him as Iruka took it.

"Gohan," Naruto began, "might I introduce you to the coolest dude in all of Konoha, the man who taught me at the Academy since I was like, five, Iruka-sensei!" The blonde said as the Chunin tipped his hitai-ate.

"Nice to meet you Gohan." Iruka greeted, "It's always great to see a new face around the Leaf."

The saiyan nodded to the man, "It's a pleasure to meet you too!" the son of Goku said.

The man passed a mock-angry glare to Naruto, "It's especially nice to see Naruto make a friend that can put up with his antics."

The blonde then smiled nervously as he broke out in a sweat, "I guess you heard about the-"

"It's time you grow out of these pranks Naruto, you're a shinobi now." Iruka said.

Naruto held up a hand, "Hey, in _my_ defense, what's worse? Me _doing_ the prank, or a Chunin _falling_ for the prank?"

Realizing he didn't have a comeback, Iruka pulled the blondes hitai-ate down over his eyes, "Hey, what the-" Naruto clamored as his vision went black, scrambling to get his sight back.

Iruka signalled for Ayame to bring out another round of bowls. " _Anyways,_ " Iruka focused on Gohan, "you seem like an athletic kid, Gohan. You play any sports?" he pointed to the saiyans casted arm, "Don't tell me you broke that climbing a tree." the man laughed.

Gohan scratched his face as he spoke, "Ha, well, I do a bit of martial arts here and there."

"Martial arts, huh, you any good?" the man asked the demi-saiyan. The Chunin only pretended to not know anything about the kid. He'd heard of how Gohan handled the Anbu black op members on the day he arrived in.

The saiyan's expression was of a bashful smile, "Well I'm not one to brag, but-"

"Ha!" Naruto laughed out loud as he pushed his hitai-ate backup to his forehead, "Gohan a fighter? That's a good one. No offense, but Gohan's a teddy bear." Naruto said, waving off the possibility of Gohan being a fighter, "I mean, I bet Gohan couldn't harm a fly if it was in a _wheelchair_."

Iruka raised an eyebrow, "You sure talk big for a kid who failed the graduation exam _three_ times before getting his headband." the man said as Teuchi and Ayame whistled. Naruto deadpanned at the shade that got thrown at him. The whiskered teen was hoping that after beating down Mizuki the other night, Iruka would have put that all behind him. Iruka continued, "I bet Gohan here could give _you_ a thrashing. With his one arm."

Naruto was about to laugh that possibility off, though he didn't hear Gohan object to it. He passed the saiyan a pointed glare, the teen flinching slightly, "What, you agree with him?" Naruto asked, his tone serious.

" _Noooo._ " Gohan said, rubbing the back of his head with his eyes looking east. It was easy to tell when the saiyan was lying, because he sucked at it.

Being able to read through Gohan like a picture book, Naruto set his chopsticks down inside his bowl, and stretched out his back and arms, "Alright, you and me, in the streets, right now." Naruto said, jabbing a thumb to the road behind them.

Gohan grimaced. He knew his power _towered_ over Naruto's. They weren't even in the same ballpark. If he fought Naruto, he'd have to squash his power to as low as he could, but there was still the skill, speed, and strength difference. It would be the equivalent to a pro-gamer playing a video game on very easy, with the 'everything-dies-in-one-hit' cheat activated. There'd be no challenge, thus no fun for Gohan.

It was either refuse the fight altogether, and look like a punk, which then, Naruto would probably lose respect for him. Which would make the saiyan lose a friend. Or, he could fight Naruto and humiliate him. Which could make Gohan lose a friend.

Naruto had already walked out into the street, waiting for Gohan to hurry up and get ready. Some of the civilians walking by had taken notice that there was some event about to go down, so they'd stuck around to watch. Since it involved Naruto, this was probably something to see.

"I'm waiting." Naruto said with his arms folded and a determined expression on his face.

Iruka smiled to Gohan, "Go ahead Gohan, I'm sure Naruto'll go easy on you." the Chunin said.

Sighing, the saiyan figured the best course of action would be to dance around with Naruto for a bit. Maybe he'd just take a dive?

Though, if he was gonna do this, he could at least make it look interesting. In which case, this cast had to go.

With a slight flex of the saiyan's muscular arm, the cast he was wearing fell in pieces to the ground below him, much to Naruto, the forming crowd, and the ramen workers shock.

"What the-, was your arm ever even broken?" Naruto asked Gohan as he looked back and forth between the saiyans fully healed arm and the cast pieces at his feet.

As Gohan approached Naruto, the gathering onlookers opening up a path to the boy, he said, "Yeah, for a while, but it healed up!" he said gleefully.

"But how did you know it was hea- You know what, never mind." the blonde said as he shook away the question.

Naruto slipped into a battle stance, "Let's do this."

Gohan slipped into his demon stance, a form taught to him by Piccolo. His onyx eyes locked onto Naruto, waiting for the blonde knucklehead to make the first move. The saiyan took into consideration the amount of space the people around gave them; about 10 yards in diameter and 30-odd yards in circumference. More than enough space to move freely.

XXX

Two boys walked down the streets; one with black hair tied in a spiky ponytail, narrow brown eyes, and a bored expression on his face. This kid wore a short-sleeved grey jacket with green-edged sleeves, over a mesh T-shirt. Brown pants were worn on his legs, a pair of his clan's silver hoop earrings dangled from his lobes, and a blue forehead protector wrapped around his left arm.

The boy turned to his friend; a chubby kid with swirling marks on his cheeks, hoop earring, and a hitai-ate that was styled to allow his brown hair to split into two tufts on his head. "Seriously Choji, if I'm gonna eat at this joint, you better be paying." Shikamaru said to his friend who munched happily on a bag of potato chips, nodding his head

Sighing, Shikamaru grew aggravated as a group of pedestrians began crowding the streets, "You've gotta be kidding me." He grumbled as he found he couldn't squeeze through the forming mob. And it wasn't his style to just push and shove through people to get where he wanted, too much effort and energy.

Choji looked to the left and right, noticing the road was completely blocked off, with no way to even walk around the crowd of onlookers.

"What's even going on here anyways?" Shikamaru asked Choji who shrugged. One of the men in front of the boys overhearing Shikamaru turned to answer him,

"A fight's about to go down between Naruto and some other kid." the older man said.

"If you wanna call it a fight," a younger woman said, "this kid's gonna get his ass beat."

"Naruto?" Choji said, eyes widening, "This I gotta see!" the chubby kid began pushing through the crowd to get a better look, Shikamaru slipstreaming behind him.

When the two got to a point where they could watch clearly, they noticed the new comer, the kid definitely not being who they were expecting.

"Who the hell is this clown?" Shikamaru asked his best friend as they eyed Gohan.

"What's up with his haircut?" Choji asked.

"What's up with his cape?" The Nara asked, eyes taking in the white cloth flowing down the saiyans back.

Then their eyes went to Naruto, noticing the hitai-ate tied around the Uzumaki's forehead, "When did Naruto become a shinobi, didn't he fail the graduation exam the other day?" Shikamaru voiced.

"I heard he was the only one to fail." Choji said with a shrug.

It was then they heard a battle cry come from Naruto, the blonde charging at Gohan. Naruto pulled back his fist at as he closed the distance, Gohan fully prepared to react to the Uzumaki's attack. But instead of throwing the punch, Naruto appeared above Gohan in a blur that the crowd could barely track, leg swinging in for a kick aimed at the son of Goku's head.

The mob gasped as Gohan's arm _instantly_ snapped up to block the kick, faster than their eyes could track. Naruto had a look of surprise for a split second before he smirked, and swung his free leg up under Gohan's chin.

Naruto grunted as the top of his foot felt like he'd just kicked a brick wall. Though the saiyan didn't react to the kick at all, Gohan hesitated for a second as the crowd gave questionable stares. It was then the saiyan realized, Naruto's hit connected. It was _supposed_ to hurt, and Gohan needed to convince everyone that it did.

"OWWWWW!" Gohan cried out as he let go of Naruto's leg to grab his chin, rubbing it like it was sore.

This only earned the saiyan more awkward stares from the onlookers.

Even Naruto thought that was a _little_ bit... off. Though he still smirked at the saiyan as he said, "If I'm hurtin' ya too much you can tap out ya' know." he leaped at the saiyan, throwing a flurry of punches at the teen who blocked and parry'd every swing. The expression on the demi-saiyan's face read he was struggling, but the movement of his body read that this was all childs play to him.

Gohan realized that he would need to go on the offensive if this was to look believable, so he grabbed Naruto's wrist and pushed his palm into the Uzumaki's chest, emptying the air from Naruto's body and throwing him off his feet to tumble across the ground.

Gohan winced as he shouted in his head. 'Shoot! That was too hard!'

'The hell was that?' Naruto thought as he coughed up a storm, trying to refill his lungs with air as he began struggling to get back to his feet. He looked to Gohan who didn't look the slightest bit winded. 'Just how is he so tough?' Naruto thought.

His gaze hardened at the saiyan across from him. Once more slipping into a battle stance, the Uzumaki charged at the saiyan teen, forming a hand seal as he did, **"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"** Two Naruto's appeared to the jinchuuriki's sides.

When he reached Gohan, one of the Naruto's came at Gohan's left side, another came at Gohan from his lower right side, while the third real Naruto jumped and came at Gohan high.

At first the saiyan was in awe. He had no idea that shinobi were capable of techniques like this. It looked just like the multi-form that he and the other Z-Fighters could use.

Still, Gohan decided it was time to end the 'fight' at this. And since Naruto was bringing in special techniques, it was only fair if the saiyan did this,

"HYAAA!" He cried out as he flared his blue aura, sending forth a shockwave that dispersed the two bunshins in a wave of smoke, while the real Naruto was blown into the sky for several dozen yards.

The Uzumaki went up, and then came crashing to the ground in a swirly eyed heap.

Iruka snickered as he shook his head. Setting up this little tussle was enough to punish Naruto for his earlier prank. He stood up and said out loud to the mob,

"Alright everyone, show's over. Go home, go on with your day, just clear the street!" The Chunin called out as the people began walking away.

The saiyan received strange glances from most of the passer-byes, through one of the people that passed him caught his attention.

A man with long black hair and white eyes gazed at him with a look that was more out of a sense of admiration than curiosity or abnormality.

Gohan walked up to Naruto and offered his hand. The Uzumaki looked at it, and frowned. When the blonde looked to Gohan, seeing that the saiyan genuinely wanted to help, he sighed, smiled, and took his hand.

"Guess you are a lot tougher than you look." Naruto admitted as he dusted off his clothes.

"Don't let someone like me deceive you." Gohan said, "Trust me, underestimating your opponent based on how they look, is a good way to lose _and_ embarrass yourself."

"Thanks for the lesson _sensei_." Naruto said sarcastically. Though he had to admit, Gohan had a point. Though the blondes ego had just taken a major blow, so he couldn't bring himself to admit it. "You're _that_ tough and you're not a shinobi? Why!?" The blonde asked.

"Maybe it's because he _knows_ he's not cut out for a soldiers life." Iruka said for Gohan. "Not everyone can be as action oriented as you Naruto."

Naruto folded his arms and frowned at the demi-saiyan, "Maybe. But still, you could do a lot of good, yet you're choosing not to. I don't like that."

That actually kind of hit the saiyan.

Still, Gohan wore a smile, "Yeah, I'm just not that guy." He turned on his heel, "But thanks for everything Naruto. It's about time I hit the road." he began to walk away.

Naruto's eyes lit up, "Will I still see you around the village?!"

The saiyan turned back to Naruto with a thumbs up, "Yeah, I'll be around. See ya!" the saiyan walked away.

XXX

 **(Outside of the Village's Walls)**

The sun began to set over the Land of Fire. Orange, cloud streaked skies manifested over the lands as dusk settled in. Within' a forest, a tree rattled as apples fell from the leaves and into Gohan's hands.

The capeless saiyan smiled at the two apples he held as others rained down around him. He flew back up into the trees, landing on a branch that held his white cape; the cape itself acting as a towel that held three big pieces of fish, four figs, and a few handfuls of various berries he'd found. Gohan put the apples in with the other assorted food, sat down, and let out a sigh of relief before digging into a fish.

Although he _should_ have been longing for a roof over his head, Gohan didn't mind. This surviving outside took him back to when he was four years old, surviving out on his own in the wilderness as part of Piccolo's brutal pre-training regiment.

Good times.

After scarfing down his grub, the saiyan smiled, and dusted off his cape, knowing he'd need it for a makeshift blanket. He laid down on the soft white cloth, and folded his arms behind his head.

As he gazed up into the starry night sky above him, a sense of yearning filled his soul. He closed his eyes and spread his senses, stretching them to the farther reaches of this planet in hoping he could catch any trace of his friends.

He couldn't.

'Where are you guys?' Gohan thought sadly as he opened his eyes again.

The stars from above were alluring, the cool wind was soothing, and the sounds of rustling leaves, hissing cicadas, and chirping crickets were comforting. They were the sounds Gohan would hear every night, through the open windows to his humble rural home.

At least the sounds of nature could bring him _some_ comfort in this strange land.

He closed his eyes, hoping to drift off.

...

No.

Something wasn't right.

Did one of those crickets stop chirping? Did a cicada stop hissing? Was something breathing his air that wasn't supposed to?

The son of Goku's eyes shot open, instantly noticing the seven shadowy figures standing on the branches around him.

"You've gotta be kidding me." Gohan groaned.

Four of the figures leaped at the saiyan as the other three formed hand seals. In an instant, the saiyan flashed from his spot on the branch and kicked one of the attackers in the jaw, sending him careening into the forest floor below. In one fluid movement, Gohan snatched one of his other attackers by the wrist and swung him around, knocking away the other three before throwing him into a tree.

It was then Gohan got a good look at the men and women assaulting him. They all wore plain black cloaks to hide their bodies, and plain black face masks to hide the lower half of their faces. The only thing separating any of his attackers were their hairstyles and eyes.

Hanging weightless in the air, Gohan stood unflinching as the three assailants finished their last hand sign,

" **Water Release: Wild Water Wave!"**

The figures took a deep breath before blasting powerful jet streams of water at Gohan, hitting the saiyan directly. One of the streams grazed the side of a tree, tearing and stripping away the bark like a peeling orange.

When the jutsu was cut, the cloaked attackers were awed at their unharmed target, the son of Goku having not shown the slightest sign of damage, the only sign that the saiyan was hit was the water that soaked his clothes and hair.

Those streams of water were powerful enough to rip the flesh from a normal humans bones.

With a glare, the saiyan flashed his aura, the heat instantly drying his wet clothes. "Guess that means you're shinobi." Gohan said as he overlooked the seven ninja, the ones he'd hit managing to get back to their feet and back up the trees. "I don't think I've done anything wrong, so I _don't_ think the Hokage would send you guys after me. And since I don't know this world too well, I'm not gonna ask where you're from." Gohan admitted, "But what I will ask, is what you want, and why?"

After a slight pause, one of them spoke up, voice monotone, "We want your head. Why? Because nothing is funner than butchering a soul with no one around to save it."

Inwardly snorting, Gohan knew these guys were bluffing. He could sense that; while dark, ruthless, and devoted, these guys weren't evil. He had a hunch that these guys were put up to this by someone.

Though Gohan knew, now wasn't the time to figure that out.

"Look, I really don't wanna hurt you guys. Don't make me." The saiyan asked.

Three of the shinobi seemed to melt into the darkness surrounding them, though Gohan's eyes shot open as they shot out at him from behind, all weilding a tanto.

Gohan held up his arms to block the blades as the nin swung. Though Gohan faced off with the three that jumped from behind, the other four leaped at him with their own blades.

The seven swords all swung against a point on the saiyans body that should have been lethal. His throat, the side of his head, his gut, his forarms, and the back of his neck.

The blades broke on impact.

With a strong roundhouse kick, Gohan knocked away all seven attackers.

'I think I'll give a warning shot,' Gohan thought, filling his left hand up with ki, 'just so they know what they're up against.'

He picked a random target down on the forest floor, aimed, and fired a ki blast from his palm, the yellow ball of energy racing to the masked enemy before suddenly changing course, and arcing up into the sky. Gohan waited a few seconds then clenched his fist, detonating the blast and bathing the entire sky from the forest, all the way over the Hidden Leaf with a golden yellow light.

It made the night sky look like day for several seconds, illuminating the forest in a way that could rival the sun at any time of day.

From within' his office, Hiruzen gasped as a bright light filled his windows. He got up from his chair and looked out, seeing the explosion of ki burning above his village.

"Gohan," the Hokage breathed out in realization, "just what are you doing?!"

A girl with long pink hair woke from slumber, the light from her bedroom window pulling her from the lovely dream she was having of her crush. Her green eyes widened in horror as she looked outside and noticed the phenomena.

"Wh-What is that?!" she exclaimed, sharing the reaction of the thousands of other Leaf residents who laid witness.

Those in the streets cried out in alarm as they felt the warmth from the blast blanket their bodies, hurriedly seeking shelter within' any nearby shops and buildings.

From atop one of the village rooftops, Danzo gazed upon the saiyans display of power, a satisfied smile on his face. That attack had the potential of wiping out Konoha and everything around it for miles. The War Hawk had a feeling that this didn't even _scratch_ the surface of Gohan's capabilities. "Excellent work, Root." he said as he turned on his heel.

Their mission was a success.

Gohan lowered his hand before folding his arms, "You still wanna fight?" the saiyan asked as he looked down on the Root shinobi.

Without a word, the Root Anbu gazed at the saiyan, before phasing out; vanishing from the forest completely.

The light from Gohan's ki blast faded away, leaving the skies their starry night once more.

When the saiyan realized he was once again alone in the dark forest, the way he wanted it to be, he sighed. He flew back up to the branch he was on before, laid down, and groaned,

"Dumb jerks."

XXX

A/N: And that's it for this chapter! Leave your thoughts, questions, comments in the review section.


	5. Adopted

A/N: A reviewer brought this to my attention, and I think he made a really good point. Everyone, I'm sorry if it seems like I take all of your kind words for granted. I'm a person who can very easily express his anger, so I can go off the handle when dealing with immaturity. For everyone who offers me constructive criticism, helpful advice, praise, etc, I really do appreciate it. As a writer, those are the things that keep me going. You all are what keep fanfiction an enjoyable experience for me.

Now, onto the damn story!

XXX

Four days later, and Gohan's little "light show" above Konoha was still a hot topic. The civilian population, who were once ignorant of the demi-saiyan, were now almost fully aware of his being in and around the village. Needless to say, the impression he left, had left some people with... mixed thoughts to say the least.

" _What's the Third thinking, letting someone like that roam the village."_

" _That attack could've wiped us all out, how are we supposed to sleep safely at night knowing-"_

" _Are you kidding me, that was amazing, why don't they make him a ninja?"_

As far as the shinobi populace went, their topics of discussion were along the lines of,

" _The kid's tough. I want him in my clan."_

" _I could care less if he wants to be a shinobi or not, he needs to teach me those ki abilities."_

" _Kid can fly? Man, count me in. If having that Gohan guy around means I can learn-"_

The Hokage was aware of the mixed reception his villagers had about the boy. Those with negative feelings, he could hardly blame them. Although he was confident he'd made the right decision, letting Gohan stay in and around the village with limited supervision; but a voice in the back of his head made him question if that was such a wise move.

The Fire-Shadow wouldn't let that bother him too much, though; those thoughts came naturally with being a leader.

But, naturally, due to the boy's little stunt the other day, he and Hiruzen did have words,

" _Just, what, did you think you were doing?" Hiruzen asked Gohan, the man having summoned the meek teenager into his office._

 _Scratching the back of his head, and looking guiltily off to the side, Gohan found himself in an uncomfortable situation. Sure he didn't hurt anyone, or break anything, but after thinking it over, maybe firing off that attack wasn't the wisest stunt he's ever pulled,_

" _I'm sorry sir." Gohan said with a bow, "I shouldn't have pulled off an attack like that. But you have to understand, I was attacked outside of the village walls." He said as he folded his arms, Hiruzen's eyes widening in surprise, "I know you didn't order it this time, but this is the second time I've been attacked since being here. I acted out of frustration. I hope you can understand that."_

The Fire Shadow could definitely understand where Gohan was coming from. With the exception of Naruto, the boy was only shown hostility from the populace since he'd arrived here. He was allowed to vent his frustration to some extent.

But what surprised Hiruzen was the attack on Gohan outside the village. It was definitely someone with some form of influence, so he suspected, almost knew for certain, that Danzo was behind the attack. But, when Hiruzen confronted the man, of course, Danzo denied the allegations. With no proof besides speculation, Hiruzen let it go.

Of course, he would still be keeping an eye on the elder.

Now, today, Sarutobi was having to deal with various clan heads practically _begging_ him to espouse Gohan within' one of their clans. At first, Hiruzen found the idea pointless. If Gohan wasn't fond of shinobi life, why would he join a shinobi clan? But then, he thought, the boy was living on his own, out in the woods, lacking food, fresh water, a shower, and a proper shelter.

Regardless of Gohan's ability to survive in the wild, nobody would choose those conditions over a proper home. That, and good boy or not, Gohan still needed to be supervised.

And that was best done _inside_ village walls; and within a clan, proper eyes could be kept on him.

The door to Hiruzen's office was already opened, Inoichi walking through.

The Yamanaka was surprised to see Hiashi Hyuga, head of the Hyuga clan, standing at the Hokage's desk. Apparently the white-eyed man and Hiruzen were already holding discussion.

"Ah, Inoichi," Hiruzen greeted when he saw the Yamanaka head at his doorway, "good to see you. What have you come to discuss?" though Sarutobi already had a damn good guess.

The blonde man said, "Well, I was hoping to discuss taking in So-"

"If you're here to talk about adopting Son Gohan, I suggest you leave." Hiashi said bluntly, "The Hokage and I have come to agreement that Son Gohan would be adopted into the Hyuga, if he so chooses."

That was a blow to Inoichi. He turned to Hiruzen, "Is this true?"

The Hokage didn't like the way Hiashi just blatantly told Inoichi, but he nodded, "Yes, it is. I understand your disappointment, but you are among many who want to take the boy in." The Fire Shadow gestured to the white eyed Hyuga, "Hiashi has given me the most convincing argument as to why _he_ should take in Son Gohan."

Inoichi didn't like it, but he'd accept his Hokage's choice.

"I want to discover the extent of his ki abilities," Hiashi said, "And I want to test if he can train my daughters in the art."

"If he can successfully train Hinata," Hiruzen said, "then we can implement the art of ki within the rest of the forces."

Hiashi nodded as the Hokage summoned his Anbu. Three masked shinobi appeared immediately in front of the Hokage,

"Find Son Gohan, and bring him here." The Sandaime said to his Anbu, "I wish to speak with him."

"It shall be done." One of them said as the three bowed, before they phased out of the office.

XXX

The Anbu bounded through the trees, quickly approaching a riverbank. Normally if Gohan was to be found, it would be near here.

The masked nin jumped from the trees and landed in front of the river, the three seeing the saiyan's cape and black t-shirt laying down on the gravel in front of the water. There was no Gohan in sight, though they knew he had to be somewhere nearby. Off on a dry patch of dirt was a pile of burned out tinder, a once lit campfire the saiyan had made. Various fishbones, apple cores, and nut shells littered the ground. A pile of leaves on a soft patch of grass led the Anbu to believe that was Gohan's 'bed.'

A 'bubbling' noise came from the river behind the nin, making them turn around simultaneously.

The bubbling grew more furious before a figure shot out of the water, flipping several times before landing on the grass behind the shinobi. They saw it was Gohan, the boy shirtless and holding several fish bundled with a piece of line he'd found.

The boy seemingly ignored the Anbu as he walked over to sit down in front of the pile of wood, whistling as the fish flapped and struggled in his hand.

Aiming his free finger at the tinder, he shot a small ki blast that started another fire.

He smiled before saying, "Ya guys hungry?" he asked the Anbu, keeping his focus on gutting one of the fishes with a sharp piece of stone he found. He knew the nin were retrieving him for the Hokage, but it was still nice to ask just in case. The boy skewered one of the fish with a stick and roasted it as he heard them out,

"No." one of the Anbu said, unsurprisingly to the half-saiyan, "You've been summoned by the Third."

Gohan took a bite out of the cooked fish, "Can it wait until after snack time? This is only my third meal this morning and I'm starving."

Obviously one couldn't tell, but the Anbu were deadpanning under their masks.

"No." one of them said robotically, much to Gohan's dismay.

XXX

Gohan stepped through Hiruzen's doors, surprised to see another man was in the Hokage's office as well. A middle aged man with long brown hair and white eyes. The man wore loose-fitting robes and carried himself like he was of high importance.

"Gohan, good to see you." Hiruzen said.

"I've been good, I swear." Gohan said with a smile.

Hiruzen smiled and nodded, "That you have. But, you were not summoned here to discuss your behavior." He gestured to Hiashi, "There is someone I would like you to meet."

The boy looked at Hiashi questionably as the man approached him.

"Hello Gohan," the man gave a bow, "my name is Hiashi Hyuga, head of the Hyuga clan. I'm here to offer you a spot within' the clan's Main Branch household. Would you like that?"

Well… this was surprising. "Uhhhhh," Gohan said with a raised eyebrow, "Why would you want me to stay with you?" His expression turned to that of a frown, "Let me guess, you want me to fight for you?"

Shaking his head, Hiashi said, "Absolutely not. We're aware of your nonviolent nature. But we of the Hyuga have taken an interest in your complex situation, and simply wish to help." the man lied, "If you are to accept, you'd be promised clothes, money, a warm bed," the man eyed the grimy boy up and down, "a _shower,_ and home-cooked meals."

Gohan's eyes lit up, "Food…"

No more eating fish and unseasoned animals all the time? Tempting… oh so tempting.

Hiashi inwardly smiled. He could tell at the option of food, he hooked the 11 year old.

"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt!" Gohan smiled.

Sarutobi smiled as well. Though it was more for the fact that this worked out successfully.

"Good," Hiashi said as he walked past Gohan and out of the Hokage's office, "come along, you have much to see."

XXX

The demi-saiyan found himself gawking at the entrance to the Hyuga compound. What he could see was what equated to an entire community, the buildings structured from elegant Asian-styled architectures, the buildings looking much fresher and posh than the rest of Konoha's. Even the Hokage's buildings weren't as rich as these.

"Welcome to the home of the Leaf's elite, Gohan-kun." Hiashi said, the man walking ahead of the boy.

"So," Gohan began as he followed after him into the community, "if you don't mind me asking, who exactly _are_ the Hyuga? I mean, I know you're a shinobi clan bu-"

"The Hyuga are _the_ most powerful of the Leaf's clans." Hiashi said, "Our fame and prowess are known far and wide throughout the world." Almost like he could read Gohan's thoughts, Hiashi answered for him, "The key to the Hyuga's power is through our Kekkei Genkai, the Byakugan."

"Byakugan?" the saiyan mumbled.

"Yes." Hiashi said as he held a finger up to his eye, "You'll learn more about it in time."

The two entered the Hyuga Main Branch home, the saiyan's sights being a luxurious hall, with all sorts of expensive furniture and decor furnished against the walls. Gohan noticed various vases, pottery, and antiques that'd been passed through the family for generations, all sitting on freshly dusted wood shelves. Above some of these antiques were framed pictures and paintings of Hyuga from decades and centuries since hanging from the walls.

A woman hurried down a grand staircase that connected the hall to the upper floor of the mansion styled home.

When she stopped in front of Hiashi and the boy, Gohan took in some of her finer details. She had chin-length dark green hair, and she had the same eyes as Hiashi, Gohan noted. It was then he realized that all Hyuga must've shared those same pearl-like eyes. She wore a dark blue kimono with a white apron layered over it. What was strange about this woman, was the odd 'X' marking on her forehead...

She gave a bow, "Greetings, Hiashi-san." She looked to the boy next to him. She could tell he was homeless, with his filthy clothes, dirty face, unkempt hair, and bad odor. He smelled like nature, body odor, and raw fish, "Um, who's this?" she asked with wide eyes, resisting the urge to pinch her nose and hold her breath.

"Hiya!" Gohan greeted as he gave his hand, "My name's Son Gohan, nice to meet ya!"

The woman shuddered when she looked at his hand, though a pointed glare from Hiashi told her to shake it, or else. So she did.

"Gohan," Hiashi said, "this is Natsu, our maid." he introduced, "If there is ever anything you need, you come to her. Understand?"

The saiyan nodded.

"Gohan will be staying with us for the time being." Hiashi told Natsu, "You are to treat him as you would my daughters."

She nodded, "Yes, Hiashi-san."

"Wait," Gohan asked Hiashi, "you have daughters?"

"Two of them." Hiashi said as he walked, Gohan following him.

Natsu wiped her hand on her robe.

"Why does Natsu have that 'X' on her forehead?" Gohan asked the Hyuga head.

Hiashi delayed his response, not looking at the boy either, "The Hyuga has two Houses; the Main House, which you will be a part of, and the Branch House." he said casually as they walked through the halls.

"What's the point of having two houses?" Gohan asked, taking an interest in the Hyuga's system.

"The Main House runs the family, the Branch House protects the Main House."

Gohan looked back at Natsu, who continued to walk behind the two, "But that doesn't explain the 'X' on her forehead…"

Hiashi's eyes narrowed, "They symbolize her belonging to the Branch House." He glanced to the boy, "Does that not make sense?"

'Not at all.' Gohan thought, but he said, "I guess so." he took one more glance at Natsu, the woman looking down at the floor.

The sound of two girls grunting could be heard as they continued toward the end of the hall. They walked through an open doorway, Gohan being greeted to the sight of two young girls sparring together in a dojo styled room.

The saiyan, Hiashi, and Natsu stood and watched as a 12 year old girl traded blows with her 7 year old sister. Gohan observed the style of combat that the two girls engaged in, and it intrigued him. It was… almost gentle. No punches or kicks, just palm strikes and slaps.

The son of Goku noticed that the younger girl seemed to have the other girl outmatched, in every area from reflexes, confidence, and aggressiveness in strikes. Gohan wasn't familiar with this style of fighting, but him being a martial artist, he could see who was the superior fighter in any bout. The Son boy turned to glanced at Hiashi, the man glaring judgingly at the older girl.

The fight came to its peak when the younger girl weaved a strike from her senior before slamming both her palms into the girls chest, lifting her off her feet and sending her a meter back across the floor.

Hiashi shook his head in disappointment before saying, "That's enough, you did well… Hanabi." The younger girl turned to Hiashi, smiled, and bowed. She turned to the older girl and tried to help her up but Hiashi stopped her with a shaking of his head, "Hinata's not injured, she can get herself up."

'These must be his daughters,' Gohan deduced, though he eyed the older of the sisters who got herself back up to her feet, 'But why's he so harsh to that Hinata girl?' he wondered. The fact that the man didn't congratulate Hinata didn't go over his head.

As Hiashi beckoned the girls forward, Gohan took in their details. Hinata was a girl around his age, with short dark blue hair that she kept in a hime-styled cut. Her eyes were featureless, like all other Hyuga, but uniquely, her eyes held a slight lavender tinge. She carried herself with a very timid and shy demeanor. She could hardly look the saiyan in the eye as she approached.

Hanabi, unlike Hinata, had long brown hair that reached down her back, and lilac tinged eyes. Also, unlike her sister, she carried herself with a lot more confidence.

"Girls, this is Son Gohan." Hiashi introduced the saiyan, "He'll be staying with us for the foreseeable future."

"Hiya!" Gohan greeted with a bow, "I'll try not to be a pest." he said with a small laugh.

"But father," Hanabi cringed, "he's dirty. And he smells," she scrunched up her nose, "really badly."

Gohan blushed when he realised that he hadn't bathed or brushed his teeth for over a week.

A towel, a set of clothes, and a toothbrush was brought to him by one of the random Hyuga.

"Get washed up, Gohan-kun." Hiashi said, "We should have dinner prepared by the time you're done."

After getting guided to the bathroom by one of the compounds many servants, Gohan set his things down on the one of the marble countertops. He took a glance around and smiled. He might like being here.

He first brushed his teeth, and then hopped in the shower.

XXX

Hiashi, Hanabi, and Hinata sat down at the dinner table in the dining room.

Although Hiashi already had his hopes about Gohan, the two girls were unsure what to think. Hanabi, although kind, didn't wanna waste time with someone who'd be a complete slob. Hinata had similar thoughts as her sister.

The dining room doors opened, revealing to the three a Gohan who was dressed in a navy blue robe, black sandals, neatly groomed yet still spiky hair, and smooth skin, clear of the grime and dirt that caked him just minutes ago.

Hiashi nodded approvingly as Hanabi blushed.

'That's the same person?' Hanabi asked herself.

'He cleans up nicely.' Hinata thought.

The saiyan took a seat at the table, eyes widening and mouth drooling at the food laid out for him.

"Dig in." Hiashi urged.

Soon the girls and Hiashi stared at the saiyan with twisted faces as he tore into the food like a rabid animal.

Unable to bear the sound of Gohan's smacking and chewing, Hanabi spoke up, "Um, Gohan," The saiyan bit into a chicken leg and glanced at the younger girl, "I don't mean to sound rude, but, why are you here?"

Hiashi's eyes narrowed at his daughter as Gohan tore off a big chunk of meat, chewed and swallowed,

"I dunno." the saiyan admitted as he looked to Hiashi, "Why am I here?"

Hiashi closed his eyes, "Gohan is new to the village. He has no home, no family, no money. We will help him in his time of need."

Hinata looked to her father questionably. It wasn't like him to do charitable work.

Hanabi still had another question, "How did you get to the village if you have no family?"

Gohan guzzled down a cup of water, "Well, I _have_ a family, they just aren't… around here." he said, though he continued before she asked another question, "To be frank, the reason I'm in this village… I don't know. Where I came from, I was fighting a monster that tried to kill my family. After I killed it, I passed out, and here I am."

Both girls looked at Gohan like he just sprouted a new head.

"...what?" Hanabi said.

After dinner, Gohan decided to get a better feel for his surroundings. So he took a walk around the Hyuga compound.

He made his way around to the courtyard, where he saw the older of Hiashi's daughters walking by herself.

The saiyan eyed her. He may not have been what most would call… socially adept. But he could tell when someone was troubled a mile away.

'If I'm gonna be a guest in her home,' Gohan thought, 'I could at least cheer her up.'

He bit his lip and approached her. Luckily, unlike a lot of boys his age, he didn't have a fear of girls due to his interactions with Lime, a girl he'd made friends with before the Cell games.

"Hey!" he called out as he approached the girl, Hinata letting a surprised 'Eep!' when she heard Gohan's voice. The saiyan instantly recoiled when she turned around, face red and eyes wide open, "Whoa, I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you!" he said, putting his hands up to show he meant no harm, "I-I just thought I'd get to know you since we'd be living in the same home for a while."

Hinata's eyes instantly went to the ground, "I..It's okay, I guess." she said, her voice soft and holding a heavy stutter, "Y-You just st-startled me was all." she turned on her heel so Gohan couldn't see her face, "Th-The guest b-bedrooms are on my h-hall. Y-You can w-walk with me there if... you want."

The saiyan could tell this girl was a shy soul, so he'd try his best to show he wasn't intimidating. Gohan smiled and nodded, hoping he could come off as friendly as possible, "That would be nice, thanks!" he walked with the girl.

"So," Gohan asked awkwardly when he saw Hinata's headband, "you're a shinobi too?" he asked. Why were there so many people his age participating in this?

The girl nodded, "Th-The Hyuga are a sh-shinobi clan. I'm expected to be a shinobi, if I'll have the chance to be the Clan Head one day."

"Chance?" Gohan asked, "I guess that means you have to compete with your sister?" he received a nod in reply, "I always thought the older sibling ruled by default in these types of things?"

Hinata's face fell further, "That's how it was supposed to be. Unfortunately for me, my sister has more natural talent when it comes to fighting." she clutched her arm, "My father thinks she's a better fit than me."

Gohan winced. That had to be painful. "I'm sorry to hear that. Is there anything you could work on that could put you on her level? Maybe I could help!"

Hinata shook her head, "It's not so much the fighting. It's just…" she seemed as if she was still trying to answer, "I just think, s-sometimes, that I'm not g-good enough. I fear that I'll fail no matter how hard I try." she sounded close to tears.

"Confidence." Gohan said. Hinata looked to him, "You lack confidence, that's all. It's okay, trust me. Heh, you shoulda seen me when I was a kid. I ran off the battlefield in my first fight!"

"Oh my." Hinata said, not expecting that.

"Oh yeah." Gohan nodded, "I got a lot better, but there are times where I can get over confident too," he blushed as he thought back to the Cell games, "There was a time I was _so sure_ I could beat a bad guy that I let him get the upper hand…" his expression became downcast, "he wound up killing my dad."

Hinata's face saddened, "I-I'm so sorry."

"Eh, don't worry about it." Gohan shrugged, "My dad's probably all better now."

Hinata's eyebrow's curled in confusion, "I'm sorry, but you say such confusing things."

Gohan mentally slapped himself. Where he came from death was a revolving door. He's letting himself get too casual. "Uh, sorry. Forget I said that." he said, the two walking down the halls, "You know, if you want, I might be able to help you out sometime." he scratched his face, "I know what it feels like to think you aren't good enough."

Hinata blushed, "Thank you G-Gohan-kun. That's very generous."

"No problem." The demi-saiyan said. The two were by Hinata's room,

Hinata gave him a small smile, before bowing, "I hope you enjoy your stay, G-Gohan, we're pleased to have you."

Gohan bowed back, "Thanks Hinata, thank _you_ guys for having me." He turned on his heel and headed to the guest room, "See ya' tomorrow!"

The saiyan walked into his room, smiling when he saw a neatly made bed, a few dressers, a lamp and a rug on the floor.

He opened the sliding door that led outside, breathing the fresh air. There was a lack of natural noise, the Hyuga compound quiet as a church mouse. The demi-saiyan sighed, knowing he traded off the comforts of nature to the comforts of a warm bed and roof over his head.

XXX

Gohan woke up at the crack of dawn, figuring he'd start his day with a quick workout. He headed outside to see Hanabi and Hinata already leaving the Hyuga compound together,

"Hey!" Gohan called out, the two girls turning to see him,

"Gohan-kun!" Hanabi said as the saiyan approached them,

"Where ya' headed?" the saiyan asked.

"I'm going to the Academy." Hanabi said, "I still have a lot to learn before I'm ready to be earn my shinobi title!" she said eagerly.

Hinata said, "I-I'll be training with my team today. We'll need to get stronger so that we can complete tougher missions."

"What will you do while we're gone?" Hanabi asked.

The saiyan shrugged, "I dunno. I'm thinking eat, train, eat, train some more, and go exploring in the village."

Hanabi giggled, "You're silly." she turned on her heel, "Bye Gohan!" she said as Hinata gave a small wave.

Gohan waved the two girls off before shedding his robes. He was dressed in a white t-shirt and the sweat pants Naruto gave him. He stretched his arms and legs before shooting up into the sky.

XXX

(Later that Day)

Hiashi watched Gohan going through various kata's within' the Hyuga Dojo. The man watched the boy trade blows with an enemy that only he could see, every punch thrown being powerful and bone breaking.

"How long have you been a fighter, Gohan-kun?" Hiashi asked the boy.

Gohan grunted as he sent out a knife chop, "Since I was four years old, sir." Through his peripheral vision he could see Hiashi raise an eyebrow in question, making him continue, "The first person I ever fought was my uncle. He was hurting my father." Gohan's eyes hardened as he thought back to when his uncle Raditz began torturing his father right in front of him. He stopped himself from continuing any further.

Hiashi continued to watch the boy before Gohan spoke back up, "What was wrong with Hinata and Hanabi's eyes?" he asked. "The veins around their temples, they were swollen."

"What you saw, was our Byakugan." Hiashi answered. He approached the boy who stopped his kata as Hiashi stood in front of him. The man suddenly clasped his hands together, Gohan's mouth opening in awe as the veins around Hiashi's temples swelled. Although the man acted like he was giving Gohan a moment to observe, he was actually looking through the boys body. The Byakugan's ability to see a person's tenketsu, did nothing for him in Gohan's case.

Gohan didn't have a trace of chakra in his body.

'Is he… even human?' the man asked himself, though he kept his cool.

"What does the Byakugan do for you?" Gohan asked.

"It allows the user to see their targets tenketsu, their chakra coils." Hiashi said, "This sight, combined with our Juken fighting style allows us to attack our enemies chakra system directly."

"Cool." Gohan said in awe, "So that means, you guys fight by attacking your opponents insides, instead of blunt trauma."

"Exactly." Hiashi said as he stepped away from Gohan, "Would you like to test us?"

Gohan smiled, "Yeah, that actually sounds fun!" the boy never fought against an enemy that could attack from the inside. This would definitely be an experience.

The man pointed to one of the Branch House members, "Step up." Hiashi ordered the man.

The Branch Hyuga stepped up to Gohan and took a fighting stance. Feeling his saiyan blood boiling, ready to face this new challenge, Gohan grinned and took his own stance, the stance Piccolo taught him. The saiyan squashed his power down to its lowest, wanting this bout to be as fun as possible.

Grunting, the Hyuga launched a palm strike at the saiyan who leaned back to dodge. Gohan let himself fall into the defensive to avoid the flurry of palm strikes thrown at him.

'Incredible reflexes.' Hiashi thought as Gohan fell back to the floor and took his opponents legs from under him in a leg sweep.

Gohan hopped to his feet and feigned a kick to the downed man's face, stopping when his heel was but an inch away from his opponents nose. Smirking, Gohan turned to Hiashi, "Guess that round's mine?" he asked.

Receiving a nod in response, the saiyan dropped his foot and offered his opponent a hand.

Gohan took a few steps back and resumed his fighting stance, his sparring partner doing the same.

This time Gohan went on the offensive, his opponent waiting patiently as the saiyan charged at him and leaped at him with a roundhouse kick. Leaning back to dodge, the Hyuga timed the saiyan's landing back to the floor before throwing his fingers into the saiyan's stomach.

Onyx eyes widening, the saiyan could feel a sharp jolt within his insides. Grunting, he put a hand to his stomach.

Hiashi, though his expression was blank, was satisfied at this discovery. Something like the Juken _could,_ in theory,harm the saiyan… if they were fast enough to hit him in the first place.

Gohan let out a slight laugh as he took a few steps back, "That doesn't feel too good." he admitted, "I got a little cocky and slipped up." he took another fighting stance.

The sound of footsteps entering the dojo brought all eyes to the door.

"Hinata…" Hiashi addressed his daughter half-heartedly.

"Father…" Hinata said, head lowered.

The Hyuga head turned to the saiyan and nodded for the boy to continue.

Gohan smirked to the Hyuga across from him, he and the man suddenly charging at the other. The saiyan suddenly flash-stepped behind his opponent, taking Hinata by surprise when she saw how fast the boy could move.

'He's… really fast." Hinata thought.

The saiyan elbowed the Hyuga in the back of the head, before weaving as the man retaliated by swinging his palm around at the boy. Faster than the man could react, Gohan grabbed his opponents forearm, before swinging the Hyuga over his head and slamming him into the floor.

Hinata winced as Hiashi glared at the beaten fighter, "That'll be enough for now, Gohan." Hiashi said to the boy.

The saiyan happily nodded before bowing to his opponent, "Good match!" he gave the man a thumbs up.

The Hyuga glared at the saiyan awkwardly before turning and leaving.

"Come," Hiashi ordered the two kids, "We'll have lunch."

XXX

Hinata, Hiashi, and Gohan sat at a table, eating dishes of rice and chicken. The saiyan, growing uncomfortable in the silence, turned to Hinata, "So, Hinata, how was training with your sensei?"

The girl instantly grew uncomfortable, "Hmmm, i-it could have b-been better, I-I think. K-Kurenai-s-sensei says I l-lack focus and I n-need to better hone my skills in combat."

A huff could be heard from Hiashi, "You never fail to disappoint."

"Hey!" Gohan exclaimed, "That's a little rough, don't you think."

"Hinata has proven consistently that she lacks the talent and drive to be a shinobi." Hiashi said, "She is inferior in all aspects to Hanabi, who is five years her junior."

"Not everyone has natural talent, Hiashi-san." Gohan said, "Maybe she needs a little work, and putting her down isn't gonna do much for her drive at all. I mean, why not just be a bit more-"

"Hinata _could_ be appointed head of this household." Hiashi said, "If she wished to lead this clan in the future, then she'd be willing to be held to a higher standard." His featureless eyes trailed to his daughter, "Yet she continues to enforce my belief that she is but a lost cause."

The man set down his chopsticks and stood up from the table, "This conversation between the two of us is over." he left from the dining room, leaving Gohan and Hinata alone.

Gohan watched as Hiashi left, before he turned to Hinata.

The boy's heart instantly fell.

Tears that the girl could barely hold back filled her eyes, and her lips trembled uncontrollably.

The son of Goku's fists balled as he frowned, "Hinata." the girl shook her head before looking to Gohan, doing her best to straighten her face, "At 5 AM I want you up."

Hinata looked to the saiyan in confusion as he got up from the table, "I'm gonna help you prove that jerk father of yours wrong." he said with a grin.

XXX

A/N: To be honest, I don't know how I feel about this chapter. I've re-read it three times, yet I can't help but feel like it's missing something. Oh well, tell me your thoughts in a review, maybe you guys can help me with that.

And a little forewarning, don't expect a Gohan and Hinata pairing. That's already being done by 'mugiwara-no-lucy' in her story 'Saiyan Shinobi' (Check out that story, it's good as hell!). I'm gonna try and have my story be as different as possible from the others.


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